Florida suspect pointed laser at sheriff’s office helicopter, authorities say

LAKE MARY, Fla. – A Florida man who was sought by police following an alleged altercation with a roommate was tracked down after deputies stated he pointed a laser at a sheriff’s workplace helicopter.

On Sunday night time, the Palm Bay Police Division issued an alert for individuals to be looking out for an “armed and harmful” particular person. On Monday, the company backtracked an earlier assertion a couple of capturing and stated the state of affairs was an remoted incident between roommates, and that the roommate was minimize and brought to the hospital.

Authorities stated they have been in a position to find 33-year-old Dean Gordon Beolet after he allegedly shined a laser into the cockpit of a Brevard County Sheriff’s Workplace helicopter.

“Not solely did the laser put officers from the Palm Bay Police Division in hurt’s manner because it impacted the gear our group was using to seek for the armed suspect, nevertheless it additionally put our flight crew in quick hazard because the laser refracted by our pilot’s night time goggles quickly blinding him and blurring his imaginative and prescient,” the Brevard County Sheriff’s Workplace stated in an announcement. “The influence to his imaginative and prescient was so important that he needed to instantly flip the controls over to our Tactical Flight Officer, who fortunately on this explicit flight crew can also be a pilot or this example may have been even worse.”

With aerial help, the sheriff’s workplace directed Palm Bay cops to a location the place Beolet was taken into custody.  Beolet is charged with one rely of felony misuse of a laser mild. 

Beolet was booked into the Brevard County Jail on a $5,000 bond.  The sheriff’s workplace stated the helicopter pilot was cleared to fly on Monday.