Man 'Blinds' OC Helicopter Pilot With Laser: COURT

ORANGE COUNTY, CA —A Santa Ana man previously convicted for aiming hand-held laser lights at overhead helicopters in Orange County has pleaded guilty to another incident, officials say.

In April 2020, Eric Suarez, 47, admitted to shining a light at an overhead Orange County Sheriff's Department helicopter pilot.

He says that he was sitting alone in his parked car when he "intentionally pointed a high-intensity green laser beam" at the helicopter, striking the cockpit at least four times with the beam.

Officials say that the laser light "beam" blinded the pilot and tactical flight officer for several seconds, impacting their ability to see the ground and detect hazards.

Documents filed in Los Angeles federal court show that just prior to being stopped by law enforcement officers, the defendant threw his laser pointer out of the window. Police "quickly located the device," the documents show.

This is not the first time Suarez has aimed laser lights toward overhead helicopters.

More than five years earlier, in 2015, Suarez was convicted in Orange County Superior Court of unlawful discharge of a laser at an occupied aircraft, federal prosecutors said.

And less than a month before he aimed his laser at the sheriff's helicopter, law enforcement responded to a report of a green laser beam originating from his backyard aimed skyward struck overhead helicopters a total of eight times.

That night, an officer warned Suarez that pointing a laser beam at an aircraft would be "disastrous" because it could blind the pilot and cause the aircraft to crash, the plea agreement states.

Prosecutors noted that the federal charge of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft carries a sentence of up to five years behind bars.

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