Man charged after flashing laser at police chopper in Vaughan

Suspect hopped fence; officers later found discarded pellet gun with a mounted laser scope

A Vaughan man who recently served as a private in the Canadian Armed Forces faces three charges after a police helicopter was hit with a bright flash from a laser during a nighttime operation.

“Those who aim these pointers at aircraft are putting lives in danger, not only in the aircraft but on the ground,” Const. Andy Pattenden of York Regional Police said in a statement. “There is a serious potential for harm to the pilot and the prospect of a crash.”

The operation was captured on video from the helicopter.

Nicholas Caranci, 19, faces charges for mischief endangering life, unlawfully engaging in behaviour that endangers an aircraft and projecting bright light into a navigable airspace.

Lonny Kates, a public affairs officer with 4th Canadian Division, verified in a statement to the Metro newspaper that Caranci, the man now charged, enrolled in the Armed Forces in February 2014 and “last paraded with his unit, 32 Service Battalion, on June 7th, 2014.”

Police were responding to a weapons call at 1:30 a.m. on Sunday near Hwy. 7 and Pine Valley Dr. when a police helicopter was hit with a flash of light, police said.

The laser strikes continued as the helicopter pilot filmed three men next to a vehicle on Jenna Crt., Pattenden said.

A suspect hopped a fence and tossed away the gun but was located by the police canine unit in a wooded area.

Police managed to locate the handgun, which was a pellet gun with a mounted laser scope, police said.

Caranci is scheduled to appear in Newmarket Court on Sept. 18.

Kates’s statement, declining to give fur-

“Those who aim these pointers at aircraft are putting lives in danger.” CONST. ANDY PATTENDEN YORK REGIONAL POLICE

ther details because this case is now in the criminal justice system, said the “Canadian Armed Forces take all allegations of criminal activity seriously, and in all cases, investigations are conducted to determine the facts, analyze the evidence and if warranted, lay appropriate charges.”