By Michael Hinkelman
Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA - Lt. Anthony Ginaldi and Officer Christopher Clemens were on patrol in a police helicopter and approaching a landing near Northeast Philadelphia Airport on April 30, 2008, when a green laser beam was aimed at the aircraft.
The beam impaired the vision of Ginaldi, who was piloting the helicopter, forcing him to abort the landing and relinquish control to Clemens.
The officers turned on the helicopter’s searchlight and illuminated the source of the laser beam, subsequently identified as James Gautieri, who was hiding behind a shed on Etta Street near Crispin when he was arrested.
Yesterday, Gautieri, 54, of Williamsport, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno to 33 months in federal prison for interfering with an aircraft. He was convicted after a four-day trial in September.
“There is simply no excuse for this type of behavior,” said Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey. “This defendant could have caused a serious and deadly accident.”
Gautieri’s lawyer Thomas C. Egan III said in court papers that Gautieri was shining the laser beam into the sky at stars and that the helicopter suddenly flew over his head and into the path of the beam. Egan said that Gautieri did not know it was a police helicopter and that there was no evidence that he intended to harm any pilot.