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Oct 26, 2010

Laser Pointer Prank Lands Teen in Federal Prison


19-year-old Nathan Ramon Wells last year saw a California police helicopter and decided to aim a laser pointer at it, causing the pilot to suddenly change course during a burglary investigation. Now he's going to federal prison for 15 months.

According to the Los Angeles Times, in June 2009 Wells was in his car in Cathedral City, California aiming the green laser pointer at the cops and, after diverting the crew from the investigation, the pilot spotted him. He was arrested when police found the laser pointer in his car. What an idiot. He could have at least thrown it out the window when he noticed the police helicopter tailing him. Or maybe he didn't notice the chopper tailing him or the patrol cars called in for backup. Either way, now he's going to federal prison for 15 months, and will be on supervised release for three years afterward. That's harsh, bro.

Here's video of a British police helicopter being viciously targeted by a laser pointer from the crowd at a music festival. You can clearly see that it's dangerous, but 15 months in federal lockup seems like overkill.

37 comments:

Lepoidim said...

Yeah they should be jailed, very dangerous

miecak said...

Pretty harsh, but it's a silly prank anyway.

honkhonkpt said...

I can see how this can be dangerous, but I think that 15 months is overkill.

Copyboy said...

He should have swallowed it. Then he could've pretended he was ET later with his friends (and stay out of jail).

Unknown said...

15 months and 3 years under supervision? Cruel and unusual much?

JP said...

nah im pretty ok with the length of the sentence, kids think they can do whatever they want

Dbankai said...

15 months is quite harsh, but damn thats a powerful laser pointer

Robobrain said...

Considering that he was interfering with a chopper, and that certain weapons are fitted with green lasers..This kid got what he deserved in my opinion.

Anonymous said...

This is hypocrisy at its best. Just this year deliberately blinding laser guns were released to local police force with the intention of temporarily blinding assailants for any investigation. Although this is probably reckless behaviour, it seems stupid that shining a green laser at a flying object is now a prison-worthy crime. Dumb.

That Stoner Kid said...

Sucks for that guy

Czikita said...

cOME AT ME BRO

Christine said...

but, 15 months is quite a long time for that kinda prank Oo

Anonymous said...

15 monts its damn to long

Jakey said...

15 months?! That's just crazy..

Savage Nugget said...

LOL laser pointers are the cause for much distress, both by the user and any person it comes across. :D

Innovations said...

hahahah damn thats pretty funny, im not sure about the length of the term though

rembrandtx said...

Great blog. Love it.

JRam said...

Great statistics.. never knew that if it hits the eye of the pilot, it can blind the pilot for 2 seconds.

SiriusUnrelated said...

It's a silly prank but they need to learn not to dick around.

Jimmy Volmer said...

that's too harsh of a punishment

AdPlusCommunications said...

That kid is just... wow.

Bart said...

lol wtf? how? why?

Anonymous said...

sound reasonable to me. he is over 18 and should know better.

Dan said...

dang, I have to make sure I don't point mine at anything flying.

Zalecodone said...

Sounds harsh but then again, it's a very stupid thing to do. He learned his lesson the hard way :¤

Anonymous said...

Love it!

NarwhalMinded said...

What a dum-dum...

Anonymous said...

that sucks for him :-/

Ishu said...

That's awful, maybe that wasn't his intention....but ohh well

Adub said...

yeah that was a dumb thing to do

Unknown said...

Those green ones are really bright and they do blind you. I've been shot with one of those. 15 months is overkill, but it is quite a big hazard.

Torey Taylor said...

Pretty harsh for a prank. But who knows really.

Applelove said...

I want one of those lasers.

Pope Smurf said...

Man, that's just plain stupid.

BunnySMG said...

Complete bullshit. At best this should be a $250 fine. Three years in prison is outrageous.

Anonymous said...

seems like a bit much

Oxygen for Everyone! said...

What an idiot, you should never do that. Very dangerous, you could easily cause crashes. those green lasers are incredibly bright, even at far distances (i own one)