Posted on 07/12/2020 6:43:02 PM PDT by ransomnote
FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd sentenced a Turlock man today to two years and three months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release for purposefully striking a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter with the beam of a powerful laser, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.
In March 2018, Roger Shane John, 34, pleaded guilty. According to court documents, on the evening of Oct. 22, 2017, John struck a Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter, Air 101, five to six times with a powerful green laser, causing visual interference of both the pilot and tactical flight officer and disrupting an air support response to a domestic violence call. The laser strikes occurred within the Federal Aviation Administration‑designated laser-free zone of the Modesto Airport.
According to the guilty plea, John knew that shining a laser at an aircraft is illegal. An examination of John’s laser revealed that it emitted 85 milliwatts (mW) of power and is 17 times more powerful than what is legally permissible for handheld laser devices. The Food and Drug Administration, which regulates handheld laser devices, has found that such power emission is dangerous and can cause either temporary visual effects or an eye injury.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, and Modesto Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Escobar prosecuted the case.
U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd is an Obama appointee. I suspect he was just sitting on this case because the crime occurred Oct. 22, 2017 and he plead guilty in March 2018. I've heard of other crimes stacking up and not being charged by Dem/Obama judges.
Wonder where he got the laser. From the article: "An examination of John’s laser revealed that it emitted 85 milliwatts (mW) of power and is 17 times more powerful than what is legally permissible for handheld laser devices."
“Wonder where he got the laser.”
You can build a laser. Or you can by one from Amazon.
No doubt the plans for laser named for the noted physicist Dr. Allan Parsons are available.
First, find the sicko. Then send a couple of Marine Cobra drivers to have a little visit with him. Case closed. As for the gay Narobian ‘Judge”, some other time.
Why do we put armaments on planes and choppers if a simple laser can disable the pilots?
If a helicopter can be endangered by a glorified laser pointer then the helicopters don't need to be flying over populated areas.
From the research I've done this is not a powerful laser by any stretch.
Our criminal justice system is a corrupt joke.
There is such a danger from lasers affecting the vision of pilots or law enforcement officers, and now some of the Antifa creeps are apparently using lasers to mess with law enforcement. Someone needs to invent some kind of visor or lens that reacts almost instantaneously to a laser beam, blackening just the specific location of the laser contact, but permitting vision through the parts of the lens or visor where the laser beam is not in contact. Surely Defense R&D has to be working on something like that.
The first clue was air support for a domestic violence call. This nonsense is a posse commitatus work around. This is where I don’t back the blue. Militarized police forces.
The perp is the kind of scumbag the Deamagogic Party politicians regard as peaceful protestors.
Totally agree. Scrambling an aircraft that costs $500 per hour to operate for a standard police call should be a red flag for the taxpayers. Unfortunately people are clueless as to how far off the rails our police forces have gone. Yes we should support "peace officers" for keeping the peace. We should not support what can only be called a "standing army" in our neighborhoods. I'm pretty sure we made those against the rules somewhere along the way.
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