Ed,
This thread is mainly emphasizing the difference between justice and vengeance. If folks feel that justice will not be forthcoming, they divert to discussing vengeance.
The only good news in this case was that law enforcement actually saw the illegal laser use take place so it is likely that prosecution will occur. Had they not seen it—and even better yet, caught it on camera—then in my understanding, prosecution would have been unlikely, even if they found the laser in the suspect’s pocket. That’s just how it is. He likely would still have been guilty of trespassing on a commercial property as well as driving their fork lift around since I doubt he was an authorized employee working at night. Could have been a problem if he had started ramming some of those structural supports though….
As far as gross medical deficiencies, the article says the suspect was transported to a medical facility, and then released to the officer’s custody. Who knows how conscientious the medical assessment was? How would they be able to tell if he did not cooperate? How come psychiatrists will argue in court all day long (if you let them) about whether a person is competent to stand trial? And if there is no facility with empty rooms to house a mentally disturbed person it gets harder to diagnose someone as being a danger to self and society if you’re going to have to turn him loose after the evaluation anyway. And if you decide not to release them you better have sufficient proof to deprive that person their complete freedom of movement. Or you lose your job or go to jail. (Habeus corpus.)
I think what most people want is an outcome where this individual will never shoot a laser at someone again. Especially not at an airplane. And, they would like to expand that to the point of not doing destructive things at all. And that’s the real problem for Americans. What do you do with a million people who are destructive? Whatever the answer is, it’s not simple. Up until the 1950’s, we used to house them in mental hospitals like Pilgrim State in New York. Just that one facility had over 13,000 beds. Then the docs said they had new chemical treatments (other than lobotomies) and that was a great excuse to close these expensive facilities that probably didn’t return many “cured” people back into society. So now we probably have greater drug use issues than back then, we have probably a fraction of the space in mental hospitals (normalized to the current overall population), and people often will not voluntarily take the meds that might keep them mentally stable. So, they are on the streets….
And since this has little to do with building model airplanes I’m going to try to move on. However, this guy’s illogical actions remind me of some the folks that either wander through, or deliberately walk—or ride bikes through—our circles when we are flying. Two of our sites at times have large homeless populations nearby. Sometimes just trying to talk to them causes mayhem….
The Divot
PS--By the way, if you work around lasers much, your employer may require a map your retinas. You may have to take periodic exams. They can see gross damage to the retina. I didn't ask about lesser damage, because I wanted to wear all the PPE I needed so I wouldn't have to find out. And you likely have to get training every year. Different lasers have different effects. The guy in this situation had what looked to be a diode pumped 532 nm laser. Seemed like a fair amount of divergence, which dilutes the danger some. On the other hand, there's an out-of-control kid on utube that is modifying laser products and claims to be jacking the power levels up. I would put him in the same category as the guy who wants to disseminate model files for plastic guns. Both are irresponsible and should have consequences.
Topic: Worthless SCUMBAG (Read 2992 times)