North Idaho man suspected of pointing laser at helicopter, interfering with flight, is arrested

COEUR D’ALENE (The Spokesman Review) — A 30-year-old Coeur d’Alene man faces felony battle charges aft constabulary opportunity he shined a laser astatine a Kootenai County Regional Air Support helicopter, interfering pinch nan aircraft’s patrol Friday night.

Deputies pinch nan aerial support portion were aboard nan chopper conducting a regular patrol astatine astir 10:45 p.m. erstwhile personification connected nan crushed pointed a high-powered laser astatine nan helicopter, according to a Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office news release.

The aviator and 2 tactical formation officers were wearing nighttime imagination goggles to thief them navigate nan controls and terrain of nan area, deputies said. The laser was amplified by their goggles, rendering their imagination useless and causing nan aviator to suffer airspeed and driblet altitude.

Using nan helicopter’s forward-looking infrared camera, they located nan fishy successful a parking batch and directed patrol units to his location, according to nan release.

Coeur d’Alene constabulary recovered nan conveyance nan fishy was past seen successful and identified him arsenic a 30-year-old Coeur d’Alene resident. The man, whose personality was not released, was arrested connected suspicion of 3 counts of felony battle and 1 count of disorderly conduct.

The Federal Aviation Administration and FBI are investigating and tin enforce civilian penalties and felony charges for pointing a laser astatine an aircraft, nan sheriff’s agency said.