A Detroit police helicopter was zapped several times late Monday, June 2, with a laser pointer, something that is dangerous to those aboard because the lights can temporarily blind the pilot, authorities confirmed.
It is also illegal in the United States to point the lights at aircraft.
The laser beams, Detroit police told the Free Press in an email, seemed to come from the Canadian side of the Detroit River and were directed at the department’s air support unit. Detroit police reported the incident to Canadian authorities.
A laser pointer or pen is a device that emits a low-power beam. At short distances, it shines a small dot on objects. In the dark, however, when the beam hits the windshield of a chopper, the light disperses like a camera flash.
Even worse, the beam might cause a fatal crash.
Over the years, law enforcement groups have explained in public warnings that shining a laser at aircraft is dangerous because, from the cockpit, the pinpoint of light looks like a floodlight.
If caught, someone aiming a beam at an aircraft could be charged and fined. It is a felony under both federal and state law. In 2024 alone, pilots reported more than 12,000 laser strikes to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Police officials have said choppers are vital to law enforcement.
In 2024, the Detroit police boasted on social media that it received a new helicopter that could stay in the air longer and was faster than previous aircraft. In a short video, the department said it has been using helicopters for decades.
But, police said, in the early 2000s, it sold its birds under financial pressure.
In 2014, the department said it received a military-style helicopter.
But in 2024, the new chopper gave the department a boost because it could stay in the air up to four hours and was commercially rated, which, the department said in its post, also could help with aviator training.
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Laser pointer aimed at Detroit police chopper came from Canada, authorities said
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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