Man Arrested For Feeding Birds Near Bob Hope Airport Denies Doing So

Attorneys for a man and creating an aircraft safety hazard called his arrest a "media frenzy" at a pretrial hearing Friday, according to the Burbank Leader.

“[They’re] up in arms thinking he’s causing a danger of some kind — he’s not,” attorney Donald Ingalls said.

Ingalls insisted his client, Charles Douglas, owner of Precise Roofing Co. on Hollywood Way, was innocent and said that police never saw him feeding the birds.

Police said after his arrest that Douglas had been cited and warned since September.

Birds that get sucked into jet engines can cause catastrophic damage to the turbines.

"It is very important to address situations like this, as there has been a significant increase in incidents of these air strikes in the last few months," Victor Gill of the airport said.

Southwest Airlines reported several bird strikes at Bob Hope Airport recently, and one recent departing flight that struck birds abruptly landed at Ontario Airport, Kendrick said.

Douglas was booked for public nuisance, violation of a court order and feeding of pigeons so as to create a public nuisance. If convicted of one of the charges, city attorneys said he faces six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine, according to the Burbank Leader.

On Jan. 15, 2009, it was a bird strike that disabled both engines of an Airbus A320 and caused U.S. Airways pilot Chelsey "Sully" Sullenberger to successfully ditch the airliner on the Hudson River in New York City, with no serious injuries to the 155 people aboard.

The City News Service contributed to this report.