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US: 37 months in prison for aiming at two news helicopters

A 33-year-old South Carolina man was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison on November 4 2014, for aiming a green laser beam at two news helicopters as they hovered over an accident site.

Damien Wade Conley was in a pickup truck on Interstate 85 on November 20 2013 when, stopped in traffic due to the accident, he repeatedly aimed a laser pointer out the front window towards the helicopters. One pilot said “When he hit us with that laser, the first thing I saw was the whole cockpit lit up green.”

Damien Wade Conley laser vehicle 1

Damien Wade Conley laser vehicle 2
Two views from WYYFF’s Sky4 helicopter, showing the beam from Conley’s vehicle being aimed close to the aircraft, and then aimed directly into the camera.


From WYFF4 and an FBI press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of South Carolina