LA MESA MAN ARRESTED FOR STRIKING SHERIFF HELICOPTER WITH LASER

Printer-friendly versionPrinter-friendly version Share this

June 11, 2013 (La Mesa) – At 12:30 a.m. on June 8,  the crew of the Sheriff’s ASTREA 3 helicopter was repeatedly struck by a green laser. ASTREA 3, piloted by Deputy Dollard with Tactical Flight Officer Deputy Brown, was flying in the La Mesa area when Deputy Brown noticed a green laser was striking him. Deputy Dollard positioned the aircraft so that Deputy Brown could locate the suspect using the Forward Looking Infra-Red (FLIR) camera. While orbiting an apartment complex in the 5300 block of Baltimore Avenue, La Mesa, the suspect stood on his balcony and illuminated ASTREA 3 with the laser.

Deputy Brown guided officers from the La Mesa Police Department to the suspect's apartment. The suspect, 34-year-old Fernando Arrollado, admitted to shinning the laser at the helicopter and was arrested.  The laser device was found at the site.  Arrollado was later booked into Central Jail on five counts of discharging a laser light at an aircraft.

 


Error message

Support community news in the public interest! As nonprofit news, we rely on donations from the public to fund our reporting -- not special interests. Please donate to sustain East County Magazine's local reporting and/or wildfire alerts at https://www.eastcountymedia.org/donate to help us keep people safe and informed across our region.