Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were lasered in at least three American cities during the recent protests against the death of George Floyd while being arrested by police in Minneapolis. The incidents, which involved law enforcement and media aircraft, including one operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CPB) officers, resulted in at least two arrests in Milwaukee and in Windsor, Ontario (close to Detroit). In Denver, Copter 4, which flies for the local CBS television affiliate, not only took repeated laser strikes, it actually broadcast them. A police helicopter in Denver was also hit.
Federal prosecutors in Milwaukee have charged 38-year-old Jeremiah Belen with lasering FBI fixed-wing aircraft and a Wisconsin National Guard Black Hawk helicopter. Belen faces a single count of aiming a laser at an aircraft. If convicted, Belen could be sentenced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. After being hit with laser strikes multiple nights, the FBI used its FLIR camera to trace the laser’s origin and guide agents on the ground who arrested Belen after he was again observed pointing what was allegedly a laser skyward.
In the Detroit incident, Canadian authorities arrested 22-year-old Ali Zuhair, charging him with mischief and breaking probation. Zuhair initially tried to flee when confronted by law enforcement in Windsor on the Canadian side of the border. The CPB said their aircraft took repeated strikes that originated in Windsor, including in the cockpit.
In the Milwaukee incidents, in one instance a laser was pointed at aircraft while it flew above the city’s fifth district police station, which had become a magnet for hundreds of protestors. Protestors in Portland, Oregon, also reportedly pointed lasers at police officers on the ground.
Last year the FAA reported 6,136 laser strikes on aircraft in the U.S. The problem has grown steadily since 2006, when 384 strikes were reported.
Meanwhile, the commander of the Washington, D.C. National Guard said he was opening an investigation into the use of a military UH-72A air ambulance to rotor wash demonstrators there. The action drew widespread criticism from protestors and members of the air safety community. Various law enforcement agencies have used rotor washing to disperse crowds, including recently from beaches in Brazil and Italy to enforce Covid-19 restrictions.