A Philadelphia teenager was convicted Thursday in Family Court of shining a laser pointer into the cockpit of a city police helicopter, temporarily blinding the pilot.
Struck more than five times by the light, the pilot was so disoriented that he had to turn over the controls to his copilot, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Siller said.
After a hearing lasting about an hour, Judge Richard J. Gordon found the 17-year-old guilty of assault and other charges, and sentenced him to probation.
Shining laser pointers at aircraft has become a nationwide problem. At least two other Philadelphia juveniles have faced charges in similar cases, Siller said, and a Camden man was arrested in April after a laser was shined at a National Guard helicopter assisting police.
"It's becoming pretty serious," Siller said. "A lot of the adults are being federally prosecuted."
The teen sentenced Thursday shined a green light at the helicopter as it hovered about 800 feet above a Manayunk neighborhood Aug. 10.
The pilot said he experienced "flash blindness," similar to what happens when the lights in a dark room are turned on, Siller said.
The two pilots kept control of the helicopter and turned a spotlight on the source of the laser pointer, in the 400 block of Kingsley Street.
A ground unit found the teen, who was not named due to his age, and recovered the laser pointer, Siller said.