So you’re just some dude chilling on your back porch with friends and you think it would be fun to aim your laser pointer at a helicopter. Everyone has a good laugh.
Eight months later a judge tells you those laughs are going to cost you two years in prison.
Pointing a laser at a helicopter can’t possibly be that much fun.
From a Statesman.com report:
On Feb. 15, Austin police’s Air1 helicopter was on approach to land at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport when (Soza Ruedas Jr.) pointed a laser at the helicopter. The laser beam was strong enough to reflect inside the cockpit and caused the pilot to avert his eyes, officials said.
The helicopter pilot found the source of the laser at a home in Southeast Austin, where Ruedas and some other individuals were standing on a porch, officials said. The pilot communicated the location of the source with patrol officers, who arrested Ruedas, officials said.
These stories – arrests, convictions, jail time – are becoming more and more common.
Here’s what I’d like to know: Is it that these jokers just don’t know that pointing a laser at any aircraft is really, really illegal? Or is that they’re confident they won’t get caught?
I’m guessing it’s some of both.
Welcome regulars and passersby. Here are a few more recent buzzblog items. And, if you’d like to receive Buzzblog via e-mail newsletter, here’s where to sign up. You can follow me on Twitter here and on Google+ here.
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