Laser incident involving aircraft leads to Arizona man's arrest: PD
PHOENIX - Officials with the Phoenix Police department say they have made an arrest in connection with a laser incident that was reported on the evening of Dec. 21.
According to a brief statement we received on Dec. 23, officers were called to the area of 17th Avenue and Indianola at around 5:23 p.m., after reports that a man was shooting at commercial aircraft with a laser pointer, as the planes were about to land at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.
The suspect was identified by police as 35-year-old William Hill. According to police, Hill "continued to shoot the laser pointer at the Phoenix Police helicopter as patrol officers arrived in the area."
Hill, according to police, has been booked into jail, and is accused of aiming a laser pointer at an occupied aircraft, which is a crime under Arizona law.
According to figures by the Federal Aviation Administration, 9,457 laser strike incidents were reported to the agency in 2022, the latest year with available statistics, which marked a slight decrease from 2021, when 9,723 such incidents were reported to the agency.