Prescott police arrested a man that Department of Public Safety officers say was shining a laser pointer in the eyes of a pilot flying a helicopter that was perusing two robbery suspects.
On Wednesday night, a DPS air rescue helicopter was called to assist officers trailing two armed robbery suspects, when the pilot of the chopper started noticing a laser beam in the cabin.
DPS officials say the beam was coming from a "handheld laser" being beamed from a residential neighborhood and at times, the beam hit the pilot directly in the eyes.
The common observer might think this was just some dumb childish prank -- one problem -- the guy police say did it is 36-years-old.
Prescott police were called about the disturbance and arrested 36-year-old Clint Brenna.
DPS spokesman Steve Harrison says tracking Brenna down wasn't too hard, either.
"It wasn't too difficult, the beam let us see exactly where it was coming from," he says.
According to Harrison, what Brenna did put a lot of people at risk.
"If you're a pilot, anytime you can't see there is an obvious safety risk," he says. "Plus there's the fact that these pilots were pursuing two armed robbery suspects and they were distracted by looking for this idiot."
Brenna was booked into Yavapai County Jail on suspicion of two counts of felony endangerment.
