Source: US FBI
ST. LOUIS – A jury on Wednesday found a man guilty of a crime for temporarily blinding Metro Air Support pilots with a laser pointer.
Jurors in U.S. District Court in St. Louis took roughly 20 minutes to convict Joshua J. Johnson, 44, of one felony count of knowingly aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft. The trial started Tuesday afternoon with jury selection.
Evidence and testimony at the trial showed that shortly before 9:45 p.m. on August 9, 2024, Johnson used a blue laser to target a marked Metro Air Support helicopter that was flying over the Benton Park neighborhood in St. Louis in support of other officers. A St. Louis County Police Department pilot and a St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department pilot were temporarily blinded when blue light flooded the cockpit. As the blue light started to wane, the officers were able to track the beam to the driver’s side of a vehicle below them. The officers then tracked the vehicle as it drove down the street. The driver aimed the laser at the helicopter again. The officers continued to track the vehicle and provided updates to officers on the ground, who stopped the vehicle and arrested the sole occupant – Johnson. After initially denying that he pointed the laser, he later admitted that he was responsible. He also admitted that fact in calls from jail.
Laser pointers are widely available and range in power. The strongest models can permanently blind air crews. Those who point lasers at aircraft can also be subject to civil penalties of up to $11,000 imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration. Pilots reported 12,840 laser strikes to the FAA in 2024.
Johnson is scheduled to be sentenced on October 30. The crime carries a potential punishment of up to five years in prison.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and the Metro Air Support Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Mohsen Pasha and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting the case.