Annoyed resident blinded police chopper pilot with laser

When a police chopper started to get on his nerves, a 58-year-old Floridan decided to do something about it and shone a bright green laser light into the cockpit that temporarily blinded the pilot and rendered his night vision equipment inoperable.

The pilot, Greg Love, who was searching for a man that had threatened suicide at the time, was forced to perform an evasive maneuver and readjust his equipment… he was then able to track down the source of the laser, one Mark Clay Hazlitt.

Hazlitt explained that he had taken action against the helicopter because he had grown tired of hearing it. He was charged with misuse of a laser lighting device, a third-degree felony.

Polk County sheriff Grady Judd explained:

He deliberately placed the lives of our pilot and flight observer in jeopardy, not to mention those on the ground searching for the endangered adult. Hazlitt’s behavior was reckless and his actions felonious. We will not tolerate anyone placing the lives of our deputies or residents in danger.

Hazlitt’s actions were stupid for numerous reasons: they were reckless, they potentially endangered the lives of the pilot, the people who lived in the general vicinity of where the helicopter might have crashed (including himself) and the guy on the ground who had signaled his suicidal intentions. Plus there is the fact that the police don’t put choppers into the air for fun (it is too expensive) so you can be fairly confident that if there is a helicopter hovering around near your house it is there for good reason. [The Ledger]