Investigators in Florida are pointing fingers at a 24-year-old man they claim shined a laser beam at a passing helicopter. Usman Tufail was arrested last week after police say he flashed a laser eight times at a helicopter used by the Seminole County Sheriff’s Dept, WOFL-TV reported. At the time, authorities inside the helicopter were tailing a burglary suspect. As a result of Tufail’s alleged bright idea, the pilots were blinded by the beam and had to stop their pursuit. Officials haven’t said whether Tufail was involved in the burglary incident. “Some of his statements were such that he wanted to see how far he could shine a laser — if he could hit the helicopter,” Steve Farris, chief pilot for Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, told WFTV-TV. Investigators tracked down where the laser originated and found Tufail. At first, he denied owning a laser, but then admitted flashing the helicopter “to see how far the laser would shine,” according to police reports.
