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:
Yeah they should be jailed, very dangerous
Pretty harsh, but it's a silly prank anyway.
I can see how this can be dangerous, but I think that 15 months is overkill.
He should have swallowed it. Then he could've pretended he was ET later with his friends (and stay out of jail).
15 months and 3 years under supervision? Cruel and unusual much?
nah im pretty ok with the length of the sentence, kids think they can do whatever they want
15 months is quite harsh, but damn thats a powerful laser pointer
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.
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.
Sucks for that guy
cOME AT ME BRO
but, 15 months is quite a long time for that kinda prank Oo
15 monts its damn to long
15 months?! That's just crazy..
LOL laser pointers are the cause for much distress, both by the user and any person it comes across. :D
hahahah damn thats pretty funny, im not sure about the length of the term though
Great blog. Love it.
Great statistics.. never knew that if it hits the eye of the pilot, it can blind the pilot for 2 seconds.
It's a silly prank but they need to learn not to dick around.
that's too harsh of a punishment
That kid is just... wow.
lol wtf? how? why?
sound reasonable to me. he is over 18 and should know better.
dang, I have to make sure I don't point mine at anything flying.
Sounds harsh but then again, it's a very stupid thing to do. He learned his lesson the hard way :¤
Love it!
What a dum-dum...
that sucks for him :-/
That's awful, maybe that wasn't his intention....but ohh well
yeah that was a dumb thing to do
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.
Pretty harsh for a prank. But who knows really.
I want one of those lasers.
Man, that's just plain stupid.
Complete bullshit. At best this should be a $250 fine. Three years in prison is outrageous.
seems like a bit much
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)
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