Charges filed against man accused of pointing laser at OSHP helicopter

YOUNGSTO W N, Ohio (WKBN) — Charges were filed Tuesday in municipal court against a man accused of pointing a laser last month at an Ohio State Highway Patrol helicopter.

Joseph Lee, 56, faces a charge of interfering with the operation of an aircraft by a laser, a second-degree felony.

An arraignment date is not listed for Lee.

The charge stems from a Sept. 27 incident where police said someone on the East Side was pointing a laser at an orbiting OSHP helicopter that was working in conjunction with joint OSHP-Youngstown police anti-violence patrols.

Reports said the crew notified city police and troopers working the patrols at 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.

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