United States authorities have charged a 33-year-old man with endangering an aircraft after he allegedly aimed a laser pointer at the presidential helicopter, Marine One, as it departed the White House with President Donald Trump onboard.
According to a court filing on Monday, a Secret Service officer spotted Jacob Samuel Winkler while pointing a red laser beam from the sidewalk outside the White House grounds at the helicopter as it lifted off on Saturday.
Winkler was immediately detained and later charged with aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, a felony that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison.
The affidavit noted that Winkler’s “conduct posed a risk of flash blindness and pilot disorientation, especially during low-level flight near other helicopters… and the Washington Monument,” adding that the action “placed Marine One at risk of an airborne collision.”
After being handcuffed, Winkler reportedly dropped to his knees and said, “I should apologise to Donald Trump,” according to the court document signed by the Secret Service officer.
In a statement to authorities, Winkler claimed he was unaware of the dangers of his actions. He allegedly told investigators that “he did not know he could not point the laser at Marine One” and that “he points the laser at all kinds of things, such as stop signs.”
The filing did not indicate whether the president, his staff, or the pilots aboard Marine One noticed the laser during the flight.
Trump was en route to Virginia to deliver a speech at the American Cornerstone Institute when the incident occurred, U.S. media reported.
The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has repeatedly warned that lasers pose a “serious safety threat” to aircraft by potentially blinding or incapacitating pilots during critical stages of flight.
The agency has recorded 5,913 laser incidents across the United States so far this year.
