MARION COUNTY, Fla. – A Florida man was taken to jail recently after he pointed a green laser at a helicopter belonging to the Marion County Sheriff’s Office as it was conducting a security check, the agency said on social media.
According to deputies, the man, 41, repeatedly struck the aircraft multiple times, blocking the vision of the deputy who was flying around 2 a.m. on Saturday in the area of Southwest 154th Lane and Southwest 58th Terrace.
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Video posted by the agency shows the deputy who is flying the helicopter managing to find the suspect before informing deputies on the ground of his location, all while the man continues to point his laser at the aircraft as he looks upward through his binoculars.
“He’s lighting us up with a high-powered spotlight right now,” deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office can be heard saying in the video as they instruct the other deputies on the man’s location.
Once authorities made contact with the man, they said they asked him why he decided to point his laser at their helicopter.
The man said he was “just being silly.”
The sheriff’s office said the man briefly resisted arrest, but was eventually placed into custody without incident under the charge of Pointing a Laser Light at a Pilot, which the sheriff’s office said is a felony offense.
Authorities said the man’s laser pointer, flashlight, and binoculars were taken and submitted as evidence.
“‘Silly’ sometimes costs you a felony,” the Marion County Sheriff’s Office said.
