Man charged after laser pointed at Edmonton police chopper

[culver10]

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/news/cha ... story.html

I bet this dude is a Mensa member!

[hazatude]

PLEASE make an example of this douche.

[flying4dollars]

Just last night on the climb out of CYVR, center advised us that a Jazz Dash 8 ahead of us en-route to Kamloops reported a laser flash 15nm north of our flight path. I think it may have come from one of the mountains, probably the viewing aread up in Cypress. I think. Didn't see it either way but god these idiots piss me off.

[CelBatrin]

38 year old man? Really? If it was some 16 year old at least it would make sense, but 38....

[culver10]

Is this guy being a retard or what??

-Shines laser a police chopper with 2 cops looking for assholes.
-Shines laser at a machine full of special equipment meant to find assholes on the ground.
-Cops in chopper have a bunch buddies on ground in cars in direct radio contact looking for assholes.

[paydaymayday]

Anyone know the maximum penalty for this? Whatever it is, I hope it is applied with the full force of the law. Let the MotherF***** burn.

[hazatude]

I've said it before...It is attempted murder and he should be prosecuted for that.

[paydaymayday]

While I agree with Haz 110%, and I wish that is what would happen... unfortunately it will not.

[C-FABH]

38 year old man? Really? If it was some 16 year old at least it would make sense, but 38....

I don't think a single laser incident has ever been attributed to someone as young as 16 ... most have been in their 20s and 30s. Just sayin'

[wxguy]

The comments on the CBC page are kind of scary!

The helicopter in Calgary every night doesn't matter the time, flies in circles around my neighbourhood, very low, very loud, wakes my children. Complaining does no good. If I had an RPG I would use that over a laser pointer. And I do live in a decent neighbourhood. They are a nuisance, like a giant mosquito buzzing around your neighbourhood. Waste of money flying it for no purpose but training. That said training should be done outside the city, if this metal bird fell it would serious hurt people flying over the residential areas like that.
--
How is this dangerous? I could see it if the person was above, or at least on the same level as the helicopter, but you can't shine it directly in the eyes of the pilot from below. And besides, don't they fly the helicopter during the day, when the big lazer in the sky is out (aka the SUN).
--
No chance for conviction...buddy could just say he was pointing out stars. The chopper may have flowen into the path. It's possible. Class 1,2 and 3 lasers are legal.

[paydaymayday]

The comments on the CBC page are kind of scary!

The helicopter in Calgary every night doesn't matter the time, flies in circles around my neighbourhood, very low, very loud, wakes my children. Complaining does no good. If I had an RPG I would use that over a laser pointer. And I do live in a decent neighbourhood. They are a nuisance, like a giant mosquito buzzing around your neighbourhood. Waste of money flying it for no purpose but training. That said training should be done outside the city, if this metal bird fell it would serious hurt people flying over the residential areas like that.
--
How is this dangerous? I could see it if the person was above, or at least on the same level as the helicopter, but you can't shine it directly in the eyes of the pilot from below. And besides, don't they fly the helicopter during the day, when the big lazer in the sky is out (aka the SUN).
--
No chance for conviction...buddy could just say he was pointing out stars. The chopper may have flowen into the path. It's possible. Class 1,2 and 3 lasers are legal.

And just when I was gaining hope for humanity...

[CelBatrin]

Don't know bout you guys, but I always use a laser to point out stars.

[Phileas Fogg]

"...could just say he was pointing out stars"



thats awesome

[vamosalaplaya]

Use it at school to make fun of the teacher and students, it is fine.

But point it at a police helicopter that wake you and your children up everynight, then you go to jail. Who is in charge of the investigation, laser idiot against nervous helicopter police? Yes... Police of course...

In a story there is always 2 side.

[paydaymayday]

Vamosa, I'm not sure the point you're trying to make... but there is a big difference between shining one in a classroom and using one to recklessly endanger the lives of others. This person should be given the harshest penalty.

[BibleMonkey]

Just last night on the climb out of CYVR, center advised us that a Jazz Dash 8 ahead of us en-route to Kamloops reported a laser flash 15nm north of our flight path. I think it may have come from one of the mountains, probably the viewing aread up in Cypress. I think. Didn't see it either way but god these idiots piss me off.

Dash 8's and police helicopters ....again.....this guy in '05 -the only one ever convicted, lasered both in one night and got a $1000 fine....

http://www.laserpointersafety.com/news/ ... 91a-19.php

....Despite the 73 incidents recorded since 2005, only one person has been convicted under the Aeronautics Act. On October 15, 2007 in Calgary, David Mackow shone a green laser pointer at both a landing Air Canada Jazz Dash 8 plane and the Calgary Police Service helicopter that was dispatched to investigate. The 29-year-old forklift operator pleaded guilty and received a $1,000 fine......

Americans seem to be tougher...:

http://www.laserpointersafety.com/laser ... craft.html

....In October 2008, a California man was sentenced to two years in prison for aiming a 3 milliwatt laser pointer at an aircraft. Note that this was a 3 MILLIwatt laser, about the same strength as a 2.5 milliwatt supermarket scanner laser. In January 2009, a Cleveland Ohio man was sentenced to three years in prison for hitting two airplanes and two helicopters.

Because laser gunsights are common, police get very worried when someone points a laser at them. In Florida, a man was killed when he refused to stop pointing lasers at officers. You don’t want to cause any misunderstanding where officers in a targeted police helicopter “shoot first and ask questions later”.

The Florida Einstein who was pointing a laser gunsight at policeman probably would have been taken out early eventually anyway, ....maybe while climbing in a lion cage in a meat suit, or making toast in the bathtub...

[co-joe]

The comments on the CBC page are kind of scary!

The helicopter in Calgary every night doesn't matter the time, flies in circles around my neighbourhood, very low, very loud, wakes my children. Complaining does no good. If I had an RPG I would use that over a laser pointer. And I do live in a decent neighbourhood. They are a nuisance, like a giant mosquito buzzing around your neighbourhood. Waste of money flying it for no purpose but training. That said training should be done outside the city, if this metal bird fell it would serious hurt people flying over the residential areas like that.
--
How is this dangerous? I could see it if the person was above, or at least on the same level as the helicopter, but you can't shine it directly in the eyes of the pilot from below. And besides, don't they fly the helicopter during the day, when the big lazer in the sky is out (aka the SUN).
--
No chance for conviction...buddy could just say he was pointing out stars. The chopper may have flowen into the path. It's possible. Class 1,2 and 3 lasers are legal.

And just when I was gaining hope for humanity...

Ow c'mon. If you can't honestly tell me you haven't been woken at 4 in the morning by that damn Hawk 1 flying rate one circles to the left for 2 hours over your house then you need to throw some better parties.

I've also wondered if this would be useful on those cursed magpies?

[vamosalaplaya]

In Florida, a man was killed when he refused to stop pointing lasers at officers.

tell me this is not true!

Why? the police thought it was a laser coming straight from star wars?
They could have at least shouted the legs, to avoid to kill the idiot. So we have a police officer that would have never been hurt anyhow, and the other side one dead person.
It is soooo ridiculous.
Meanwhile drug dealers, mafia and real killers are still making business...

[BibleMonkey]

In Florida, a man was killed when he refused to stop pointing lasers at officers.

tell me this is not true!

Why? the police thought it was a laser coming straight from star wars?

I guess they thought it was a laser sight for a gun, (turned out it was ) and that officers were being targeted:
http://www.laserpointersafety.com/news/ ... 481-10.php

US: Man aims laser at deputies, is shot dead

Fri, Feb 04 2005 Filed in: Other incidents

A Pinellas County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed a man who had been pointing a laser at a group of deputies early this morning [Feb. 4 2005}, WTSP-10 News reports. Thomas Setzer, 24, was said to have aimed the laser from the second floor of an apartment building. The shooting occurred as the deputies went to the apartment to investigate.

Concerned they were being targeted by a laser-sighted weapon, a deputy trained a spotlight on a second-floor window at the adjacent Boardwalk Apartments, and the laser stopped. Then the beam appeared again, this time focusing on the deputies' bodies and tracking them as they walked.

Deputies drove to the apartments to investigate. Within minutes, the man they say pointed the laser was dead.

Authorities said the deputies wound up in a confrontation with Thomas D. Setzer in the door of his apartment. They said one deputy fired a shotgun blast after Setzer, who authorities thought might be armed, refused to show his hands and made a sudden movement.

"We still don't know why he (Setzer) pointed the laser at the deputies," said sheriff's spokeswoman Marianne Pasha. "But the deputies went there not knowing if someone was aiming a gun at them or not."

Setzer, 24, was pronounced dead at St. Petersburg General Hospital.

According to Pasha, Deputy Ryan E. Buckley, 32, ordered Setzer, who was standing by his front door, to show his hands. Buckley, a nine-year veteran of the force, could see Setzer's left hand, but his right hand was concealed in the doorway.

After several more commands to show his hands, Setzer said, "You're not going to get her" and turned suddenly.

It was then that Buckley fired his shotgun, striking Setzer in the upper chest.

Deputies did not find a gun or a laser on or near Setzer's body. They said an inspection of the apartment found three handguns, including a loaded semiautomatic in a drawer about 8 feet from the door. Police also found three devices that shoot a laser beam, including one that can be mounted on a gun.

They could have at least shouted the legs, to avoid to kill the idiot. So we have a police officer that would have never been hurt anyhow, and the other side one dead person.
It is soooo ridiculous.
Meanwhile drug dealers, mafia and real killers are still making business...

I guess it was a domestic dispute, with a laser sight for a gun and some other guns in the apartment; for some reason he was pointing the laser at deputies, and then all hell broke loose after he said "I'm going to blow someones head off ".


More detail , second post down, here

....A short time later, Amy Davenport awoke to the sound of automobiles. She looked outside her apartment in time to see two squad cars pull up to the building across the parking lot. Davenport woke her husband, and they watched as a deputy armed with what they thought was a shotgun took up a position just inside the front door of the building.

Pasha said deputies knocked on the door of Apartment C, identified themselves, and heard a man and a woman arguing. No one answered. They then heard the man say he was "going to get a gun."

The deputies went down the stairs and began to remove other residents from the building. They returned upstairs a second time and knocked on the door again. This time, Pasha said, Deputy Ryan E. Buckley said he heard a man say, "I'm going to blow somebody's head off." ...

....According to Pasha, Buckley, 32, ordered Setzer, who was standing by his front door, to show his hands. Buckley, a nine-year veteran of the force, could see Setzer's left hand, but his right hand was concealed in the doorway.

After several more commands to show his hands, Setzer said, "You're not going to get her" and turned suddenly.

It was then that Buckley fired his shotgun, striking Setzer in the upper chest. ......

They could have at least shouted the legs, to avoid to kill the idiot

In my last link there, that's what the dead guys dad says-cops said they don't do that leg-shooting stuff.


Anyway, More than just the laser, I guess. Who knows why he started pointing it at the cops.
Wanted to 'suicide by cop' ?

[paydaymayday]

Just so everyone is clear as to why police don't "shoot to wound" and not to "kill" (stop is a better term)

If a law enforcement officer has sufficent reason to draw and fire his/her firearm in the first place, or believes they do, they will fire on the target until the percieved threat is stopped. If the threat is only sufficient to "shoot him (/her) in the leg", the justified use of deadly force is not sanctioned. Thus, theoretically, you will only see LEOs fire their weapons when there is sufficient cause to use lethal force.

Now, this is not to say that I don't think there is a widely prevalent overbearing police state on our hands, but one should not fall into generalizations and classify all LEOs as corrupt officers. Just like any population, there are the good and the bad. But I digress.

Whenever a LEO feels there is sufficient right to brandish his/her firearm, he or she is past the point of shooting to injure. They are trained to stop the threat in the quickest means possible (not always aiming to kill, most of the time aiming for centre of mass).

I just realized the tangent I went off on... sorry!

[C-FABH]

The helicopter in Calgary every night doesn't matter the time, flies in circles around my neighbourhood, very low, very loud, wakes my children. Complaining does no good. If I had an RPG I would use that over a laser pointer.

If that doesn't earn you a place on the RCMP/CSIS watch list, I don't know what will.

[MUSKEG]

Using the logic that pointing a taser should be considered "attempted murder" would it not then be true that driving while legally intoxicated would hold the same charge? As long as you can buy Lazers at many retail stores it will be very hard to get a conviction. A simple defense of "I had no idea the aircraft was there" would suffice, because it is not illegal to own and use them. Lets ask the simple question. Are we blowing this out of proportion with the type of lazers used? Does anyone have stats as to damage to eyes etc. and lets keep in mind the common low power lazers that are being used by the public. Oh and no I don't condone the use of lazers but sometimes humans have a tendancy to jump on a band wagon because it feels good. Just asking. Someone will have an answer, but please stick to facts.

[wxguy]

I don't think this is all about the small pocket laser that every 14 year old had at one point. You can buy lasers online that can be seen for over 100 miles (granted they cost thousands of dollars but still!).

Caution: Class IIIb lasers produce sufficient amount of energy to cause personal injury and start fires. Certified laser safety eyewear required when using these products.

Class IIIb lasers can be made to be pocket sized!

http://www.wickedlasers.com/index.php

My point is this isn't a black and white issue. Using a 5mW laser is different from using a 300mW laser. A 5mW laser may not be able to blind a pilot, but stronger lasers certainly could.

[hazatude]

So if you shoot at an aircraft using a .22 which has virtually no chance of bringing it down it's ok?

[wxguy]

So if you shoot at an aircraft using a .22 which has virtually no chance of bringing it down it's ok?

Sorry, that wasn't what I was trying to imply. I think pointing any type of laser at an aircraft is a very bad idea. I was suggesting that some people are trying to justify it being okay because their 5mW laser can't hurt them, so no laser should be able to either. There are many types of lasers available to anyone with a credit card, and no matter what the class, no type of laser should ever be pointed at an aircraft.

With that being said, the outcome of pointing 1W laser at an aircraft is very different from pointing a 5mW laser, and there should be penalties for both, but the penalties should not be the same.