Unlawful Discharge of a Laser in the First Degree

A man in Lakewood, WA, was arrested Wednesday for shining a laser at planes entering and leaving Sea-Tac International Airport. The official charge, Unlawful discharge of a laser, sounds like something straight off of Buck Rogers's rap sheet, and Seattlest hopes the next time we are arrested it's on a charge that sounds equally as cool. It is, however, a felony.

From the PI report:

"We don't believe he intended to bring planes down or bother pilots but he was aware of the news reports" and didn't stop, [spokesman Ed] Troyer said Thursday.

"At this point we're still looking into his motive, still trying to determine his capacity for understanding the ramifications of his actions," he said.

Questions concerning the man's capacity for understanding the ramifications of a lot of things loom. The man is said to have received the laser from an internet site Monday, which means it took him less than three days to be arrested for its use. Seattlest shudders to think of all the other goodies available to this man on the internet.