Teenager in CA arrested for aiming his laser pointer at a jetliner, commuter bus, and a police helicopter

A 15-year-old boy was arrested in Orange County for aiming a laser pointer at at a jetliner, a commuter bus and police helicopter.

Police Sgt. Evan Sailor says officers aboard the helicopter traced the laser beam to a Newport Beach home where the 15-year-old Las Vegas boy was staying with relatives. The boy was given the laser as a Christmas present.
It was the third laser-related arrest in Orange County this week. Two men were arrested earlier for aiming laser devices at an Orange County sheriff's helicopter.

The article doesn't say, but I'm guessing it was one of those green laser pointers that outdoor astronomers use to point out stuff to their fellow scholars.

Here's an article about other recent laser pointer incidents. One couple in California faces up to 20 years in prison for shining a green laser beam into the cockpit of a Kern County Sheriff’s Department helicopter. Link

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

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strathmeyer

I’m glad these psychopaths are being caught. People who can’t handle the power of owning a laser pointer ruin life for everyone else.
Agent 86

May I be the first to point out these new lasers don’t require 5 minutes of shining directly in the eye to blind someone. You can burn out someones vision in the time it takes them to realize they are/were looking at a laser.

“Please do not look into laser with remaining eye” was pretty much made for these new high powered ‘toys’.
Mark Frauenfelder

Here’s a video of Make senior editor Phillip Torrone demonstrating a green laser pointer. They are much more powerful than a cat-toy pointer! http://cachefly.oreilly.com/make/laserfun.mov
rblakem

What exactly is he being charged with? What was the couple charged with? I had one when I was a kid and I pointed it at everything.
Brett Burton

A friend of mine once spent the weekend in central booking after accidentilly shining a laser at a cop. He was playing with a friend’s cat and didn’t realize the laser was shining out on to the street below until multiple police cars showed up with their lights flashing. He had a pretty scary ordeal that involved being robbed by the police and his cell mates. Eventually he got community service.
Noelegy

Not to make light of the kid’s malicious idiocy, but is anyone else hearing, in their mind, Dr. Evil talking about “frickin’ laser beams”?

Who in their right mind gives a teenager (who’s presumably not into astronomy) a green laser for a gift? It’s just asking for trouble.
Bevatron Repairman

I can’t find the federal law against it, but California law is pretty clear (Cal. Penal Code)

247.5. Any person who willfully and maliciously discharges a laser at an aircraft, whether in motion or in flight, while occupied, is guilty of a violation of this section, which shall be punishable as either a misdemeanor by imprisonment in the county jail for not more
than one year or by a fine of one thousand dollars ($1,000), or a felony by imprisonment in the state prison for 16 months, two years,
or three years, or by a fine of two thousand dollars ($2,000). This section does not apply to the conduct of laser development activity
by or on behalf of the United States Armed Forces.
As used in this section, “aircraft” means any contrivance intended for and capable of transporting persons through the airspace.
As used in this section, “laser” means a device that utilizes the natural oscillations of atoms or molecules between energy levels for
generating coherent electromagnetic radiation in the ultraviolet, visible, or infrared region of the spectrum, and when discharged exceeds one milliwatt continuous wave.

248. Any person who, with the intent to interfere with the operation of an aircraft, willfully shines a light or other bright
device, of an intensity capable of impairing the operation of an aircraft, at an aircraft, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment.
Anonymous

Why don’t they lock up a few of these irresponsible astronomers for attempted genocide? Did they ever stop to think that we’re not the only ones standing tall against terror? What happens when Galactic Homeland Security, fearful because of a terrorist attack thousands of millenia ago, use *their* Patriot Act to justify blasting Earth after a night of laser pointing? Oh, the humanity!
noen

A pretty dumb thing to do, but kids do dumb things. I wonder if the parents will be charged? They should be.
nicheplayer

The parents? Why do you think they dumped him off at the relatives’ place? Green lasers don’t kill people….
Antinous

Can somebody please explain how you could use a laser pointer to point out astronomical objects. The laser isn’t visible until it hits something, right? How long do you have to spend in the back yard before you see a little green spot show up on the surface of Arrakis?
Cpt. Tim

green lasers are visible as they travel through air thanks to Rayleigh scattering
ninevolt

Antinous-

Drop some chalk dust in front of a laser pointer sometime– you’ll notice the light is scattered off the small particles of chalk as they pass through the laser beam, reflected in all different directions.

The same general principle is at work when you’re using a green laser outside to designate astronomical objects to others— as particulate matter impinges on the laser beam, it reflects it in all directions.

Milliwatt for milliwatt, green lasers appear much brighter than red lasers because the human eye is *MUCH* more sensitive to green light. ( I forgot the difference, and I don’t have my Optics notes handy to check. )
Dave X

I have to wonder what the ordinary use for something like this would be as well. The “wow” factor of popping balloons and lighting matches has to wear off pretty quick– it can’t take much effort to realize that anyone buying these is quickly going to move on to stupid or dangerous activities.
EH

I’m going to guess that the police vehicles in this story are effectively (if not actually) unmarked.
punctiliouspig

Yeah, why would this be a gift? And how did they trace it back to a kid in his grandparents’ house?
noen

“And how did they trace it back to a kid in his grandparents’ house?”

If the beam was visible then it would be easy for the helicopter to find the source. I used to work in a mall in the 90′s and when the old laser pointers came out kids brought them there. I got shined once and it was frightening. You don’t know where it’s coming from and you feel violated. It is very much a power trip for the one doing it. I would put it in the same league as an obscene phone call.
Antinous

@#s 11 & 12,

Thanks!
danegeld

Even if that green laser doesn’t permanently blind, doing something that might dazzle a pilot while they’re flying an aircraft is making an accident more likely and for no good reason. That laser should be confiscated and the kid should be made to think about how his actions could affect other people.
punctiliouspig

Re: #17. Oh I was assuming he was beaming into things very far away. And yes, I hated the laser craze. I used one to point at the ground to exercise my cat and that was all. So much potential to become an annoying jerk.
RealCatholicMen

wld thnk th chf dngr s th ftrmg y’d gt frm vn brf flsh by hgh pwrd lsr. Th plt dsn’t nd t hv bg bltch n hs vsn whn h’s tryng t rd th ltmtr nd cm n fr lndng.

ls rcll hrng tht t ws dngrs t vn lk t th spt whr hgh pwrd lsr ws httng, t cld b tht brght. Smply hvng t cntct nywhr n th cckpt, spclly t nght, cld crt dngrs sttn fr plt, ‘d bt.
mrfitz

pretty soon police will be using these
Mr Ascii

While I hate to suggest anything that may become legislation, the people that sell laser pointers should include a warning that pointing them at aircraft is illegal and dangerous.

NASA’s Aviation Safety Reporting System has had a couple publications on the dangers of lasers to flight crew. Links are here and here. The main danger seems to be the loss of night vision.
morcheeba

There’s an important distinction to be made, and I just want to make sure everyone’s on the same page. Green laser pointers come in two powers: low-power versions (like sold at amazon, usually under $100) are used for sky-pointing. High power versions (like phillip torrone demonstrated) can pop balloons & usually cost from $500-$1500.

MRFITZ – The police are already shining lasers at planes: http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/04/15/laser.warn/
js7a

It’s odd how Cal. Penal Code 247.5 goes to great lengths to define a laser, but ends the definition with, “and when discharged exceeds one milliwatt continuous wave.”

Clearly pulsed lasers, which by their nature can do more damage (if they make it into a retina, which is less likely) are not covered by this law.
laserist

Wow, back in the bad old days a coworker of mine was annoyed by a police helicopter invading our â€œclear airspaceâ€ (set up in advance with the FAA) and shinning his million power search light on our set up for an outdoor laser event at Griffith Park. He shuttered the 20 watt Argon Laser (20,000 mW!) and climbed up and pointed a scanner at the helicopter. He then opened the shutter to project a â€œtunnelâ€ around the helicopter â€“ He shuttered it again as the pilot decided to leave the area. The â€œtunnelâ€ effect is one that anyone familiar with sci-fi movies would recognize. The pilot radioed â€œofficer in distressâ€ and there were a lot of police â€œflyingâ€ up the hill. Yes, there was a law suit â€“ the pilot lost – because he was violating our FAA clear airspace. BTW the laser beam never touched the helicopter, and the scatter from the mirrors scanning the â€œtunnelâ€™ was the same as what he decided to violate our clear airspace to approach in the first place. There werenâ€™t any rules back then â€“ but it seems the rules now were written by morons who equate laser with death rayâ€¦
The Unusual Suspect

Too bad we don’t know whether the laser used was a high-powered version sold through a scientific supply house (like the one shown in the video), or the regular consumer version.

If it was the former, it could have indeed dazzled a pilot, provided it was mounted on a tripod properly situated along the projected flight path so that it could target the 2 m^2 cockpit window of a jetliner travelling several hundred km per second.

If it was the latter, well, what judge is going to know the difference?
diluded000

Yawl sound like a bunch of Dudley Do-Rights (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudley_Do-Right). Why is it OK for the police to fly around and shine searchlights at the people, but if the people shine something back they go to jail? Couldn’t a motorist be blinded by a police spotlight? Isn’t the cumulative damage to society inflicted by the police spotlights greater than that inflicted by a single kid experimenting with the range of his new device?

I’m just trying to throw out an opposing viewpoint and stir some thinking, please don’t take up your time answering these questions point by point.
Dan B.

A laser? Seriously? Where are these people celebrating Christmas, 2002?
Anonymous

everyone is assuming that what they are being told is the truth, the truth of the matter is that countless #’s of these people are being falsely accused of TARGETING aircraft. In a majority of these cases, the lights are simply being aimed into the sky for a laser show effect. The problem is, when spotted by aircraft the light is reported, tracked & ground units are sent to have them arrested. Police helicopters are on the hunt for the lights regardless if they are targeted or not. It is law enforcements way of single handedly banning the lights since there is no law in effect yet. I strongly recommend no one ever point one up into the sky, period, or you,(like my son),will most likely be facing a felony of a misdemeanor, up to 2-3 years jail, &/or a $1,000.00 fine for TARGETTING an aircraft, when u were not. This is very serious & costly. Please tell anyone you know, not to play with these laser pens. It’s not worth it!
osiris7

I live in a large city, but on the edge of a canyon. The loud police helicopters sometimes circle around forever late at night, shining their searchlights around randomly. I’ve occasionally gone out with my 2-million candlepower searchlight and shined it right back at them. I respect what they’re trying to do, but I think that sometimes they forget that they’re not alone.
Agent 86

May I point out that a high powered laser that pops balloons and lights matches can be made from any dvd reader/writer, and a pen-light or cheap laser-pointer. With all the MAKERS on here, I’m surprised no one has mentioned this.

May I also point out that these lasers not only blind people, but burn out optical sensors as well! There is a group in the UK that goes around shining these things in the traffic cameras – to disable them. I would think any camera system on a plane/helicopter would be worth thousands of dollars (read “more than the fine imposed”), so the government is actually being lenient.

Any one who is outraged by this kid being arrested should realize that he’s causing the equivalent damage (read $, or human trama) as a kid who takes his perfectly legal zippo and starts illegal fires.
Crash

Lasers and sniper rifles indeed do not coexist, both because they give away the shooter and also because they’re not really useful at those ranges (for reasons having to do with bullet drop and windage and the effectiveness of scopes etc.)

You do see a lot of laser sights on handguns and carbines, though. Not that anyone would shoot at a plane with them.

A laser can easily dazzle a pilot, however. Think about it: if the pilot of the helicopter could not only see the laser, but see it clearly enough to trace it back to the source on the ground, then obviously it must have been visible at that range.

Still I say that with lasers as with sniper rifles, it ain’t the gadget that’s at fault, but the irresponsible goon holding it.
Landowner

TP1024

Google “laser scope rifle”, they are common and sold for hunting. And remember you will be looking at the laser point through a scope. Making it easier to see.

And a laser guided RPG would be impractical against a airliner. However they probably don’t want to find out how impractical.

The moral of the story is that we need to get out of the habit of aiming lasers at each other.
tp1024

Ok, has anyone of you writing of blinding the crew of a jetliner/helicopter here, ever seen what your “ordinary” 30-50mW laserpointer looks like, when you shine it at something at a distance of about 400m/a quarter mile? (Most laserpointers are in the 0.5-5 mW range.)

Well, having tried it out, the laser beam becomes about 30-50 cm wide (roughly 200 times wider than at close range, resulting in a 40,000 fold loss of intensity – the equivalent of 0.001 mW) , only visible on white background, absolutely unlikely to be a threat to anyone. Those are pointers, not science grade lasers with high coherence. (You can easily tell the difference: if the laser active medium is roughly half a meter long or more, results would surely be different because of reduced diffraction. In said laserpointers the laser crystal is about 3mm long.)

At a distance of roughly a mile the beam is utterly invisible. That doesn’t mean, that the laser would not be a very bright spot somewhere on the ground/in the distance, but only when it happens to hit the eye of whomever is standing there. And trust me, this is hard! Your hand is shaking by roughly 0.5 degrees, which translates to several meters or tens of meters at the kind of distance you would expect a flying airplane to be in.

(In case you wonder: I’ve pointed those lasers at stars in the sky (which they were intended to), the antenna of a skyscraper and a smokestack.)
Agent 86

#37, I loved the story, but had to lol when I read the name! You would have killed if you made it here earlier.
Landowner

I would think the police don’t like having lasers pointed at them because they are afraid of it being mounted to a sniper rifle. The airliners don’t like it because lasers can be used to direct missiles to their targets.
I just checked amazon an a “Astronomy Grade Laser for Military, Lecturers and Law Enforcement” is down from 250 to 35 bucks. Wow.
tp1024

> I would think the police don’t like having lasers pointed at them because they are afraid of it being mounted to a sniper rifle.

You mean those you see in the movies? Ok, I have no idea about weapons, but I’m pretty sure that lasers (that would be invisible in daylight and all too visible at night) and snipers don’t mix.

> The airliners don’t like it because lasers can be used to direct missiles to their targets.

Nope.

A) You need a much bigger laser to do that, because you don’t want to spread your laser tag over the whole fuselage of the plane. And

B) An airliner is emitting enough IR radiation that shooting it down is no problem whatsoever.

You might as well search everyone for flasks and bottles containing liquids, because those could be explosives. Oh, wait, they’re doing that already?