Stargazer arrested for using green laser

Man Charged Under Patriot Act for Laser
Wednesday, January 5, 2005 10:33 AM EST
The Associated Press
By WAYNE PARRY

Listen to Audio


A man charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an
airplane with a laser beam claims he was simply using the device to look
at stars with his 7-year-old daughter.

Federal authorities on Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge David
Banach, 38, with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation
vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is the first person
arrested after a recent rash of reports around the nation of lasers
being beamed at airplanes.

If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined
$500,000.

The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but
called Banach's actions "foolhardy and negligent."

Banach, of suburban Parsippany, admitted to federal agents that he
pointed the light beam at a jet and a helicopter over his home near
Teterboro Airport last week, authorities said. Initially, he claimed his
daughter aimed the device at the helicopter, they said.

Banach's lawyer said his statements were given during several hours of
questioning without an attorney present and that he was being harshly
prosecuted because authorities were eager for an arrest.

"My client is in some ways a sacrificial lamb," attorney Gina
Mendola-Longarzo said. "A message is being sent."

The jet, a chartered Cessna Citation, was landing Dec. 29 with six
people aboard when a green light beam struck the windshield three times
at about 3,000 feet, according to court documents. The pilot and
co-pilot were temporarily blinded but were able to land the plane
safely.

Two days later, a Port Authority police helicopter trying to pinpoint
the origin of the beam was hit by a laser. A copter crew member then
shined a spotlight on the house where the beam had originated so that
officers on the ground could go there. Soon afterward, FBI agents came
to Banach's house, authorities said.

Mendola-Longarzo said her client was simply using the hand-held device
to look at stars with his daughter on the family's deck. She said Banach
bought the device on the Internet for $100 for his job testing
fiber-optic cable.

"He wasn't trying to harm any person, any aircraft or anything like
that," she said.

Joseph Billy, agent in charge of the FBI's Newark bureau, said Banach's
actions endangered not only the jet's crew and passengers but also
"countless innocent civilians on the ground in this densely populated
area."

Banach, who was released on $100,000 bail, is charged only in connection
with the jet. According to the FBI, the Patriot Act does not describe
helicopters as "mass transportation vehicles."

Similar incidents have been reported in Colorado Springs, Colo.,
Cleveland, Washington, Houston and Medford, Ore., raising fears that the
light beams could temporarily blind cockpit crews and lead to accidents.

Last month, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department sent a memo to
law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have
explored using lasers as weapons. But federal officials have said there
is no evidence any the current incidents were part of a terrorist plot.