{"id":283301,"date":"2026-04-24T05:29:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:29:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/283301\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T05:29:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T05:29:13","slug":"laser-strike-on-chp-aircraft-leads-to-orange-county-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/283301\/","title":{"rendered":"Laser Strike On CHP Aircraft Leads To Orange County Arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WESTMINSTER, CA \u2014 A person suspected of aiming a laser beam at a California Highway Patrol helicopter in Orange County has been arrested, the CHP announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>The incident happened April 17 just after 9 p.m., while CHP Fullerton Air Unit 51 was flying near Interstate 5 and the 91 Freeway, according to an Instagram post from CHP Westminster.<\/p>\n<p>Cameras on the aircraft captured what investigators thought to be multiple laser strikes from a person standing on a sidewalk in front of a Westminster home, where two children were playing nearby, police said.<\/p>\n<p>Police switched the aircraft&#8217;s camera into night-vision mode, which gave them a clearer view and allowed them to find an approximate address in the 8600 block of Carnation Drive.<\/p>\n<p>Westminster police officers responded to the location and arrested the person on suspicion of willfully and maliciously discharging a laser at an occupied aircraft in motion, the CHP said. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Repercussions include fines up to $2,000 and or imprisonment between 16 months to up to 3 years,&#8221; the CHP added.<\/p>\n<p>Pointing a laser at an aircraft is also a federal crime, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;If you point a laser and interfere with the operation of an aircraft, that\u2019s a felony,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/video-repository\/newss-making-a-point-about-lasers\/view#:~:text=%E2%80%9CIf%20you%20point%20a%20laser,to%20%2411%2C000%20for%20each%20violation.%E2%80%9D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the FBI said in a previous warning<\/a>. &#8220;The crime carries a maximum of 20 years in federal prison and a quarter of a million dollars fine. In addition, the FAA can impose a civil penalty of up to $11,000 for each violation.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WESTMINSTER, CA \u2014 A person suspected of aiming a laser beam at a California Highway Patrol helicopter in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164],"class_list":{"0":"post-283301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-anaheim","8":"tag-anaheim","9":"tag-anaheim-headlines","10":"tag-anaheim-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=283301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/283301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=283301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=283301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=283301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}