PHILADELPHIA - A Philadelphia man was sentenced Thursday to one year in prison for shining a laser pointer at an airborne Philadelphia police helicopter last December.
Raji Yusuf, 36, will also serve three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $1,000 fine, according to United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams.Prosecutors said a Philadelphia police helicopter with two aboard was on routine night patrol near the Northeast Philadelphia Airport around 10 p.m.
when the aircraft was struck multiple times by a "high intensity green laser."The laser illuminated the cockpit and temporarily distorted the officers vision, according to investigators.
Once they regained their sight, the officer's used a floodlight to illuminate the parking lot Roosevelt Mall and found the suspect, later identified at Yusuf.