Two men decided separately in recent months to see if their laser pointers could hit helicopters in the skies around St. Louis only to discover they made a big — and potentially dangerous — mistake, according to local law enforcement.
It turns out, in both cases, the aircraft was a police helicopter with the region’s Metro Air Support Unit, which aids investigations from the sky in St. Louis and St. Charles and St. Louis counties. The men were soon arrested and investigated by the FBI, and they now face federal felony charges for what’s increasingly reported as a hazard to pilots across the country.
“It’s not just a practical joke. This could potentially cause a helicopter crash,” said St. Charles County police chief Kurt Frisz, who himself was a St. Louis County police helicopter pilot for more than a decade. “People don’t realize it can temporarily blind a pilot.”
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