Laser idiocy mugshot goodness.

[SmithB]

I just happened to stumble across this this morning, since this is a county where I know someone.

http://www.sheriffcitrus.org/public/ArRptDetail2.aspx?bnbr=09108355

SUBMITTED BY: STRICKLAND, JASON 0583 (AR09108355)

DID KNOWINGLY AND WILLFULLY SHINE, POINT OR FOCUS THE BEAM OF A LASER LIGHTING DEVICE ON AN INDIVIDUAL OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE, VESSEL OR AIRCRAFT, TO WIT: THE DEFENDANT POINTED A GREEN LASER LIGHT AT THE CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE HELICOPTER WHILE THE HELICOPTER WAS IN FLIGHT, IN VIOLATION OF FLORIDA STATE STATUTE 784.062(3)(A)

ON 032609 AT 2200 HOURS, AIR TWO, CAME ACROSS THE RADIO ON TAC ONE EAST AND ADVISED DISPATCH THAT AN UNKNOWN SUBJECT/DEFENDANT just POINTED A LASER LIGHT AT THEIR AIRCRAFT. I WAS THE CLOSEST UNIT in the AREA, AT WHICH TIME I RESPONDED TO the AREA OF SOUTH DESOTO STREET WHERE AIR TWO THEN GUIDED TO THE FRONT OF THE RESIDENCE AT 64 SOUTH DESOTO STREET, IN BEVERLY HILLS.

UPON EXITING MY PATROL VEHICLE, AIR TWO ADVISED ME TO WALK ON the SOUTHEAST SIDE OF THE RESIDENCE AND THE DEFENDANT THAT THAD BEEN SHINNING THE LASER LIGHT AT THE AIRCRAFT WOULD BE ON the EAST SIDE OF THE RESIDENCE. WHEN I TURNED THE CORNER, I CAME IN CONTACT WITH A WHITE MALE SUBJECT LATER IDENTIFIED AS THE DEFENDANT, MR VAN VICKERY. I THEN ASKED THE DEFENDANT IF HE HAD BEEN USING A LASER LIGHT AND SHINNING IT AT THE CITRUS COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE HELICOPTER, TO WHICH HE STATED, NO. I THEN LOOKED ON THE TABLE THAT HE WAS SITTING BESIDE and OBSERVED TWO BLACK IN COLOR LASER LIGHTS THAT EMITTED A GREEN IN COLOR LIGHT. AT THAT TIME I THEN ADVISED AIR TWO THAT I WAS WITH THE DEFENDANT AND THAT HE DID HAVE THE LASER LIGHTS IN HIS POSSESSION. AT WHICH TIME they ADVISED ME TO GO AHEAD AND PLACE the DEFENDANT UNDER ARREST and TRANSPORT THE DEFENDANT TO THE CITRUS COUNTY DETENTION FACILITY.

I THEN SECURED THE DEFENDANT IN HANDCUFFS (DOUBLE-LOCKED) BEHIND HIS BACK AND ESCORTED HIM TO MY PATROL VEHICLE. the DEFENDANT WAS THEN SEARCHED AND SECURED IN the REAR SEAT OF MY PATROL VEHICLE. HE WAS THEN TRANSPORTED TO the DETENTION FACILITY FOR BOOKING AND PROCESSING.

DEFENDANT'S BOND WAS SET AT $2,000.00.

*NOT-EXEMPT*

 

[allthatwhichis]

I bet he got fired on his day off... :shakehead

 

[Sgt. LED]

I'm not sure if he's half conehead or if he just has a really tiny face for that big melon head of his..............................

 

[KingGlamis]

"Hold my beer and watch this"

He won't do that again.

 

[Guy's Dropper]

What happened to his face?

 

[RyanA]

Receding hairline + mullet =

 

[Egsise]

Wow.
If there was a rape, would they arrest everyone with a di** in 2mi radius.

 

[Lightraven]

At first, I thought, "I got a green laser, too. Hope they got the right guy."

50% of the population has a d---. Not 50% of the population has two green lasers. And the bird was hovering over idiot while he lased them. Guided in the ground unit. Standard police work, but made easier by suspect drawing attention to himself with green laser.

That's adequate probable cause to arrest, at least. If he pleads guilty (very likely), end of story. If he goes to trial, the jury can decide if the police got the wrong guy.

 

[gorn]

Wow.
If there was a rape, would they arrest everyone with a di** in 2mi radius.

Wow, are you serious? If so, I am truly sorry.

A helicoter gets hit with a laser beam, they have a visual and guide grounds units to the idiot who did it, how does that fit in with your statement.

 

[Oznog]

I'm sure the police will make the case with a ballistics test to match the light fired at the helicopter with the laser device in Defendant's possession.

 

[buickid]

Does this kind of incident happen as much with red lasers? I'd guess that its harder to trace the beam, therefore harder to get it onto a far-off target.

 

[Oznog]

It puts the laser on its skin, or else it gets the hose again!

First thing I thought of when I saw his pic.

 

[Benson]

Does this kind of incident happen as much with red lasers? I'd guess that its harder to trace the beam, therefore harder to get it onto a far-off target.

Basically, there's two effects here: the human eye is more sensitive to green light than red, and green light, being shorter wavelength, backscatters more. These both mean you need dramatically less power in a green laser to see the beam in the air, and that makes it:

• more likely you're waving it around in the sky just for fun in the first place
  and
• easier to paint aircraft with, once you notice one.

And idiots can afford greenies powerful enough, but couldn't afford (or would think ridiculous) the cost of a good high-powered red to get similar beam visibility.

I'm not at all certain, BTW, that green is optimal for this; I expect something more cyan, trading off a little optical response for better scattering, might be even better, but greens and reds are the only cheap laser pointers. I can only imagine the reaction of a chopper crew to a "blue" violet laser -- you need plenty of power because of low sensitivity (so a HDDVD/BD burner diode), but nobody outside the geek/laser/light community would identify the deep violet as a laser pointer (nor, probably, have they ever seen it before!). Fortunately, most people who actually build them don't seem to want their hobby banned -- we'll have to see whether this starts happening as the blue-violet pointers continue to infiltrate the consumer market.

 

[Lightraven]

Actually, I posted last year in this subforum about a report that our guys were tagged with a "blue" laser. This was an internal news item, not a public release. The report was a kid with a toy gun with a blue laser who was caught by another police department.

This seemed very strange to me. I've been personally lased with red on duty, but not green and I don't think I've ever seen a blue laser. I still don't know what to think about it.

 

[Benson]

Actually, I posted last year in this subforum about a report that our guys were tagged with a "blue" laser. This was an internal news item, not a public release. The report was a kid with a toy gun with a blue laser who was caught by another police department.

This seemed very strange to me. I've been personally lased with red on duty, but not green and I don't think I've ever seen a blue laser. I still don't know what to think about it.

A toy gun with a blue laser... one of these, maybe? But like I said, the color's not really blue, it's a weird violet color. Genuine blue lasers are expensive little toys; not sure if its just because of no industrial applications, or if they're just more expensive to make, but they run $400 and up, where 405nm "blue" are under $100 prebuilt, and DIY kits even cheaper.

 

[Lightraven]

Okay, that could do it. I was still under the impression that blue-violet lasers were very expensive, but I missed Craig's review.

 

[Egsise]

Wow, are you serious? If so, I am truly sorry.

A helicoter gets hit with a laser beam, they have a visual and guide grounds units to the idiot who did it, how does that fit in with your statement.

So you are 100% that he did it? There are no innocent bystanders in prisons?
Innocent until proven quilty, right?

 

[Benson]

So you are 100% that he did it? There are no innocent bystanders in prisons?
Innocent until proven quilty, right?

Innocent people may be jailed under strong suspicion -- 100% certainty is not needed, or we would have trials before arrests (and we'd only ever arrest seriously stupid criminals, as the smart ones would flee when their trial started, and not come back until they heard the verdict was not-guilty).

If the airborne unit had him under constant visual, that's plenty for arrest.

 

[Egsise]

Yeah what ever, he did.

 

[RyanA]

I think idealism can be a burden after a point. There seems to be this sense among some that if nothing can ever be perfect then why bother. I mean, honestly what are our other options. If every person's perceptions are considered too subjective to be reliable (if a knife is just a tangential representation of a knife that might have been the weapon used, covered in what may or may not be blood belonging to the person who could be the victim, etc etc.) if no evidence will ever be objective enough then how do we arrest anyone? Not that these are not valid arguments, but rather ones that should be discussed at trial. I think this idea is problematic. Not that the officers did a bad job, but I'd rather see the law enforced imperfectly than not at all. I'm not sure that's a world anyone would want to live in for very long. Although I believe that some sort of system of order, though not necessarily perfectly just, will establish itself. It's important to remember that were we are now is a lot better than from where we've come.

It's not as if he was promptly executed or thrown down the oubliette upon reaching the police station. As far as legal systems go ours isn't too bad. There where other times and are other places in the world where people actually did once and do now disappear indefinitely for things like this. That's something to really be afraid of and or offended by. This guy is very likely out on bail right now. Not that it's perfect, but I'm pretty grateful for the system we have.