A 13-year-old Florida boy is charged with a felony after allegedly pointing a laser at a sheriff’s department helicopter.
The Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office said the helicopter was in the sky around 12:30 a.m. Thursday in the area of 7th Street Northwest and 11th Avenue in Largo, when a green laser lighting device was pointed at the aircraft.
Deputies in the helicopter maintained a visual of the suspect and directed deputies on the ground to the suspect’s location.
“Get up and get somebody on this gentleman. He’s blinding our pilot,” a deputy in the helicopter is heard saying in video released by the sheriff’s office.
Body camera video then shows deputies on the ground locating the young teen, who reportedly admitted to illuminating the helicopter with a laser lighting device. Deputies found a flare gun with a mounted green laser in his jacket.
Deputies said the teenager told them he intentionally aimed the laser at the helicopter because he was bored.
When he was in the back of a squad car, the boy was heard telling deputies, “I didn’t know it was a police helicopter.”
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The boy was arrested and charged with felony misuse of a laser lighting device. He was taken to the Pinellas County Juvenile Assessment Center.
According to Florida statute, it is a third-degree felony for any person to knowingly and willfully shine, point or focus the beam of a laser lighting device on an individual operating a motor vehicle, vessel or aircraft.
The incident remains under investigation.
