Did you listen when your parents told you not to point lasers in people's eyes? Well, tonight's suspect did not. >> I got hit right in the eyes by that blue laser. >> On August 28th, a Metro Air Support helicopter was suddenly hit by a powerful blue laser. Instantly, the cockpit was flooded with light, temporarily blinding the pilots. >> It got me in the eye. >> Were you blinded for a little bit? >> I mean, yeah. Hit me right in the eye. Right eye. >> Officers quickly found the source, a black VW sedan. >> Now, it's turning into this McDonald's parking lot right here, right beneath us. Going to the drive-thru. >> Hello, Deputy Mor Sheriff's Office. >> All right. >> All right. I'll get him. >> How old are you? >> I'm 25. >> All right. Can you do me a favor? Step out of the car, please. Memorize, guys, real quick. Come on. Can you come over here with me, please? Um, obviously you're not in handcuffs or anything like that, but I'm uh going to just read you your rights. Okay. >> They have the laser. Yeah, they got admission and they're getting the laser. That's I'm going to point to you guys. Tell me if it's the right one. >> How old are we? Is it like a kid or something? >> I don't know. >> To get an admission. >> Yeah, ask how old. Let's figure out if this is a kid or something. >> How How old are you? >> 25. >> 25. I have some questions. You want to answer my question? >> Sure. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> All right. So, what was going on with the laser? You were >> I was just playing with it. I was just putting it in the air. >> You're putting it in the air? >> Just playing or like flashing it around? >> Flashing it around. Okay. Did you like point it at the helicopter or anything? >> No. >> Okay. Well, cuz you see the helicopter right there? >> Yeah. >> It's a police helicopter. >> That's a sheriff's. >> I didn't point it at it. >> I know. But they they saw You did point it at them though because it hit them. >> Oh, it did? Yes, >> I didn't mute you. >> So, that's a federal crime. The reason why it is a crime is because if you shine a light at them and it causes blindness to them, they can crash the helicopter. >> Okay? >> You know what I mean? So, it's super they it's they take it very very serious. >> Um >> that is a crazy lizard. >> I'm not saying you're going to go to jail today, but what I'm going to do, I'm going to write a report on this incident tonight. >> It does get hot. >> Oh my god. Put your hand out. No, dude. Those things are hotter than hell. >> I'm going to say that I talked to you. Um it might have been a mistake, right? Yeah. >> Okay. >> But it is very serious. >> It's not like that, dude. It takes like now it got like It wasn't even that bad. >> That was like a second. It's like, "Oh, now it's hot." >> And it goes to the FA FA, right? It gets hoarded. It'll pop your tire. Ian, you have a balloon. >> Dude, I want I want a laser like this so bad. Dude, who'd you get this from? >> I got it from one of my friends. >> These are pretty wild. Yeah, they are. They're called star lasers. They're for pointing at stars and stuff. You can order them on like Amazon and stuff like that. >> And it goes that far. >> Mhm. It's for stars. >> What do they say? >> Uh they just want to charge a salt. >> Yeah, I interviewed her. She said that she wasn't doing intent. She said she was just like playing with it messing there. I don't know what they saw or what their reasoning is. >> It's up to you if that if that's what you want to do. >> That's what they want. >> You guys, >> stop, dude. Don't dude. >> I'm live, bro. What the [ __ ] >> Yeah. Number one lane driving very high. It's not It's not that bad. >> Ow. Okay. >> Can I ask what? >> So, right now you're being arrested for aggravated assault on a PO on a police officer. Okay. That is a very powerful laser. Those are our pilots up there. If you strike them in the eye, they could possibly lose control of the of the helicopter and crash. >> I should have been more careful. >> Okay. So again, you are getting charged with aggravated assault on a police officer. Okay. So you will be going to jail tonight. But what happened when you were over there at the McDonald's? >> I don't know. >> So again, you're being charged with aggravated assault on the PO. Okay. You said you were pointing it at the stars because it's a star laser. >> Yeah. >> And you happen to see the helicopter, but you didn't think you were that close to it. Is that correct? >> That's correct. >> When you saw the helicopter, did you like turn it off? Yes. >> Did you keep pointing it? Did you keep rotating it? Like what? What did you do? >> I turned it off. >> Did you strike them in the eye? They could crash the helicopter and that's zero tolerance. Okay. >> You are how old? >> 25. >> You're 25 years old. You're an adult, >> right? >> Playing like a child, >> right? >> Okay. Step on over here. >> Go ahead and have a seat. >> Okay. Can you help me? >> Okay. Do you have anything on you? No. >> Anything in your bra? >> No. >> Anything inside your person? Cuz you're going to go through a body scanner and if you go through the scanner and they find something on you, they'll obviously charge you for Yes. for taking stuff into a jail. >> Okay. I just want to make sure I give everyone the fair warning before we go. >> Okay. >> Sorry. I didn't realize, but I understand. >> That's something definitely not to mess around with when it comes to laser striking an airplane or >> Thank you. Yeah, she they said that she was clearly outside of the vehicle, pointed at them, struck them, and then got back in the vehicle. And yeah, I don't know why they're going this route. I'm just being wrong, brother. Coming from a sergeant. >> New Mexico leads the nation in laser strikes on aircraft. A simple handheld laser can blind a pilot and destroy night vision. One strike can cause a crash, endanger the pilots and everyone on the ground in the flight path. Okay, a laser strike, especially that high power laser towards a police helicopter is nothing to fool around with. Don't play stupid games when it comes to laser pointing at an aircraft or, you know, anyone with especially that powerful of a laser. You guys struck the pilots. Like I said, this is coming down from them. This is zero tolerance when it comes to laser strikes with aircrafts because of how serious and you know, it's it's common sense actually. So, >> I didn't know where to hit. We were just testing to see how high it was going, but Yeah, you can say goodbye real quick if you want to. >> Thanks, bro. You guys make smarter choices. You're old enough to know better. All right, have a good night. Okay, you go and step on me. If you want to just stand right here for now. Come over here. Just >> bring me back tonight. >> All right. Now, let's go ahead. >> The 25-year-old was charged with two felonies. Battery upon a peace officer and unlawful interference with the flight of an aircraft. [Music]