This is a Bright Idea
- Three north suburban men face charges of pointing a laser beam at a Chicago Police helicopter Saturday night, police said today.
Arrested were Alvin Kang, 25, of Northbrook, Jeremy A. Smith, 24, of Skokie, and Mark P. Lawrence, 25, of Winnetka. The three face misdemeanor charges of unlawful use of a weapon -- pointing a laser at a police officer, according to a release from Chicago Police News Affairs.
Um, dumbasses? It's a helicopter. It doesn't have to circle around for another flyover to pinpoint your exact location. It kind of stops, hovers and picks out your location. A laser has two ends if you've forgotten - one on the "target" and one at the source.
Too bad we didn't get the Hellfire Missile package with the chopper, but Shortshanks thought that might be intimidating.
Too bad we didn't get the Hellfire Missile package with the chopper, but Shortshanks thought that might be intimidating.
Labels: silly people
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
26 Comments:
There are some mega-powerful 1 watt handheld blue lasers out there that could absolutely blind a pilot in an aircraft. These aren't the kinds of things you get in novelty shops, but are available from international sources in certain gray areas of the internet.
To give you an idea...
Given the right conditions, a "regular" ultra powerful handheld green laser could throw a beam from Hammond, Indiana through all of Chicago and remain detectable in Wisconsin.
These blue laser things can quite literally throw a beam that will reach the surface of the moon (and as exaggerated as that sounds, it's absolutely true)
I'm a pretty easy-going guy when it comes to allowing people to own whatever they want (guns, hobbyist rocketry that shoots off the big 10 footers, couldn't care less), but I am opposed to these stupid handheld mega lasers.
I recall they arrested some morons not too long ago doing the same thing near Midway. A few months in County might help them.
You gotta love this. Good work!
They must be from the same "crowd" causing all the other "trouble" at the beach & Gold Coast area. Damn "suburbanites" !!!
I think we all know nothing will ever happen to Mr. Northbrook, Mr. Skokie, or Mr. Winnetka. In fact, they will probably have their unpaid parking tickets wiped out at the same hearing.
where did this happen?
Winnetka, Skokie, and Northbrook had better work HARD to stay out of jail. It wouldn't go well for them there.
I highly doubt that these were the James Bond caliber lasers, and more likely of the Office Max variety. You'd have thought they took shots at the chopper from the news reports "Could have caused a terrible accident"
Extremely annoying, yes, deadly, doubtful.
Besides, if anyone wanted to actually shoot at a vehicle such as a plane or chopper, traditional optics offer far greater advantages and adjustments, such as elevation and windage.
coming to a staion near you?
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/news/local/chibrknews-explosive-device-found-at-evanston-police-station-20110619,0,2112329.story
Three times an arab male has been seen in the 004th dist lot taking pictures and doing surveillance....
geniuses!
In the Trib, Sun-Times, and WBBM News-Radio's coverage of this article, several of the commenters didn't think pointing a laser at a plane or helicopter was no big deal, and commenters questioned why those 3 a-holes were arrested.
CPD Copter Unit is next - to -Useless. A Blimp armed with dual 50 cal. machine-guns to hover over Englewood would be a much better and useful idea.
there has been at least 4 reports on laser incidents near ohare in the last several weeks. green lights
Well they will sue stating that the light the helicopter used blinded them by burning their cornea. im sure a good lawyer will get this case. I'd love to be in the court room to hear the p.o.'s give their testimony. Im sure they got a event # for laser mission.
Watch out - it's those trouble-making suburbanites - better shut down Old Town.
847-ers
If memory serves me correctly, a couple of pilots at O'Hare reported having green lazers beamed into their cockpits not too long ago.
Throw the book at these morons. Anyone who does this threatens the life of those in the aircraft and on the ground.
Good work getting these asses.
"Three times an arab male has been seen in the 004th dist lot taking pictures and doing surveillance...."
--6/20/2011 10:50:00 AM
That was probably just the stupid one.
I highly doubt that these were the James Bond caliber lasers, and more likely of the Office Max variety. You'd have thought they took shots at the chopper from the news reports "Could have caused a terrible accident"
Extremely annoying, yes, deadly, doubtful.
So, in all your time flying at night, how many times have you been "extremely annoyed" by a green laser being shot into the cockpit? If the answer is none, then STFU. It's not the targeting of aircraft with the laser that makes it dangerous and potentially deadly. It is the loss of night vision by the pilot and the potential loss of control of an aircraft flying over a densely populated area that makes this a dangerous thing.
if I recall correctly the U.S. military lost a helicopter to a pointed laser in Kosovo in the 1990's. Glad these suburban punks were arrested. Lasers can and have blinded pilots in fatal ways
Extremely annoying, yes, deadly, doubtful.
Besides, if anyone wanted to actually shoot at a vehicle such as a plane or chopper, traditional optics offer far greater advantages and adjustments, such as elevation and windage.
6/20/2011 10:27:00 AM
You're an idiot. The problem is, until you've been in the situation, you don't know how laser light bouncing off airplane or helicopter windshields/windows can totally distract or blind the pilot. You also have no clue how that laser light can literally damage the human eye, sometimes permanently.
As for shooting at the plane/helicopter being 'easier', I won't even dignify that stupid comment with a response. You are clueless on SO many levels.
Sun night in 019 during Cubs/Yanks game...3 pot smoking losers walking down Addison St pointed a laser at the DIRECTV blimp at the Cubs game. 019 tact got them. Girlfriend of one of them admitted what they did. Not too sharp.
Wikipedia entry for Laser Pointer: "The small width of the beam and low power of typical laser pointers make the beam itself invisible in a reasonably clean atmosphere, showing a point of light when striking an opaque surface."
"In the Trib, Sun-Times, and WBBM News-Radio's coverage of this article, several of the commenters didn't think pointing a laser at a plane or helicopter was no big deal, and commenters questioned why those 3 a-holes were arrested."
--6/20/2011 12:30:00 PM
Today's Universal Excuse -- apply to any bad behavior.
"Ees no like I keel someone."
Of course, it's a one-way arrangement.
The converse is --
"I keel you eef you tell me I no can play my sounds, man. I keel you."
Sounds reasonable enough.
Heard they're going to close- Lazer Knights on Lawrence due to all this activity?
Helicopter Unit is a TOTAL waste of Tax Dollars that could be used to hire more Police and Firefighters.
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