Suspect may have pointed laser at Cessna, Port Authority police helicopter

It appears that law enforcement authorities are beginning to take serious action against people suspected of shining lasers at aircraft flying at night. Police have identified and have questioned a man in Parsippany (NJ) suspected of first shining a laser at a Cessna aircraft flying overhead, and then making things worse for himself by shining the same laser at the police helicopter that was dispatched to hunt him down.

On Wednesday evening, the pilots of a Cessna aircraft reported that someone had illuminated them with a laser over New Jersey, according to Port Authority of New York and New Jersey spokesperson Steve Coleman. Though the spokesperson did not identify the aircraft, it must have been a bizjet, because it was described as carrying "about a dozen passengers."

Investigators spent much of Friday trying to figure out where the laser had come from, and on Friday evening, probably in an attempt to flush out the perpetrator, a Port Authority police helicopter was dispatched to the area. The helicopter was circling the area where the Cessna was flying when the incident took place, when someone made the dumb mistake of shining a laser beam at the helicopter, which was clearly marked as a police chopper.

The crew quickly identified the source of the beam, and members of the FBI-NYPD Joint Terrorism Task Force, as well as FBI agents, swarmed into the area and questioned the man at his home. At press time, no charges had been filed and no arrests had been made, but the investigation is anything but over. Coleman added that authorities are trying to figure out if the same person they talked to has also been involved in similar incidents reported by other pilots.

FMI: www.panynj.gov