68-year-old man accused of pointing laser at sheriff’s office helicopter

A 68-year-old man was arrested after admitting to pointing a green laser at a Spokane County Sheriff’s Office helicopter during a patrol flight, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office’s Regional Air Support Unit was searching for a reported reckless driver at about 10:15 p.m. Friday when the crew was hit with a green laser that illuminated the cockpit of the helicopter, the office said in a news release.

Using its camera system, the crew determined the laser came from a residence in the 7400 block of North Lidgerwood Street, where deputies on the ground responded, the release said.

Deputies contacted Ernest W. Donlan at the residence. Donlan denied targeting the aircraft with a laser, but admitted to being outside and owning a laser pointer. He brought the laser to deputies.

The laser emitted a green light, the same color that struck their helicopter, according to deputies.

Donlan eventually admitted to pointing the laser at the helicopter. He was arrested on suspicion of felony first-degree unlawful discharge of a laser and booked into the Spokane County Jail.

Donlan posted a $20,000 bond Sunday and was released from jail. He made his first appearance Tuesday in Spokane County Superior Court and has an arraignment Aug. 20.

The sheriff’s office said pointing a laser at an aircraft is extremely dangerous and can momentarily blind pilots and potentially cause permanent injury.

Laser pointing at aircraft is not new to the region.

In April, the FBI was seeking information on lasers pointed at planes landing at Spokane and Seattle airports. The airports had seen a “dramatic increase” in laser strikes since March, the FBI said.

In 2023, a federal grand jury indicted Johnny Blackstock on two felonies in connection to aiming a laser at an aircraft. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to time served, according to court documents.

In April, the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office said its air unit was on a regular patrol flight and reported two green laser strikes northwest of the airport. Rusty A. Flett, 45, was taken into custody in connection with the laser strikes hours later, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.

Aspen A. Schaffer, 31, of Post Falls, was sentenced this spring to nearly three years in federal prison for aiming a green laser pointer at a Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office helicopter last summer, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

The laser struck the helicopter multiple times and impaired the vision of the pilot, a sergeant and a deputy who were on board, the attorney’s office said in a release. The helicopter lost altitude, but the pilot regained control and brought the helicopter back up to the appropriate altitude.