NORTH MIAMI, FLA. (WSVN) - After a trial in Miami federal court, a jury has convicted a North Miami man for deliberately pointing a laser pointer at two United States Coast Guard helicopters and one Miami-Dade Police Department helicopter.
According to the evidence presented during the trial, Patrick E. Longsworth, 68, targeted three government helicopters in late November of last year. The laser pointer strikes occurred on two separate occasions, affecting two U.S. Coast Guard helicopters and one Miami-Dade Police Department helicopter.
In the initial incident, the laser struck a U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer in the eye. Six days later, Longsworth again directed the green laser pointer at a second U.S. Coast Guard helicopter. Shortly after that, a Miami-Dade Police Department helicopter arrived at the scene and was also repeatedly targeted by the laser. The incident was captured on video by police officers, who were able to track Longsworth to his residence, where he was apprehended holding the laser pointer in his backyard.
Longsworth faced an indictment that charged him with three counts of aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 39A. Following the trial, the jury found him guilty on all three counts. He had previously been charged in a criminal complaint under case number 22-mj-04163-JG.
Longsworth is scheduled to be sentenced on September 7 at 1:30 p.m. before U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz in Miami.
U.S. Attorney Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida, Special Agent in Charge Zinnia P. James of the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), Southeast Region, and Special Agent in Charge Todd A. Damiani of the U.S. Department of Transportation-Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG), Miami Field Office, announced the conviction.
The case was investigated by CGIS and DOT-OIG, with Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexandra D. Comolli and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Ayer handling the prosecution.
Laser strikes on aircraft pose a serious threat to aviation safety, and the number of reported incidents to the Federal Aviation Administration has been increasing since 2018. These strikes have the potential to incapacitate pilots and cause eye injuries, highlighting the need for stringent measures to prevent such occurrences.
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