Report: Man accused of shining laser at helicopter told police he was rounding up cats

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — Reports said a man under investigation Thursday evening for shining at an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter told officers he was using the laser to help “wrangle” his cats.

Reports said the crew notified city police and troopers working special patrols about 9:35 p.m. that someone in the area of Bennington Avenue and McGuffey Road was pointing a laser at the helicopter.

The helicopter managed to track the laser to a home in the 1300 block of Bennington Avenue and told police it was being used on the back porch.

When officers arrived, they found the man on the porch. They also found a hand-held laser on the porch near where the man was standing, reports said.

Reports said when the man was asked why he was pointing his laser at the helicopter, he told police “he was trying to wrangle in his cats from the back yard.”

Reports said a trooper on the scene took the laser pending further investigation. The man is under investigation for interfering with the operation of an aircraft with a laser, which is a second-degree felony.

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