Man Lasers operator of a mass transportation vehicle (AKA Cessna Citation)

from AP 1/5/05:

Federal authorities on Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge David Banach, 38, with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI

If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000

The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called Banach's actions "foolhardy and negligent."

Last month, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons. But federal officials have said there is no evidence any the current incidents were part of a terrorist plot.

Now obviously this guy is a moron and doesn't really deserve any defending, but is this really what we want the FBI using the Patriot act for? Isn't this exactly what the ACLU has been warning us about? Don't get me wrong I like the patriot act for combatting terrorism, but is seems absurdly irrisponcible to use it in this manner. To me this will give the ACLU all the ammunition it needs to shoot holes in the act and will end up making us ultimatly more vunrable to terrorism, is that a price we want to pay to prosecute some pecker head who thought it was cool to laser a plane. Surely there is some provision under the regular laws that he can be prosecuted under.....

As an aside this story reminds me of a story from way back, that I read in a newspaper, but do not know the authenticity of where a Policeman in the UK "shot" his Radar gun at a passing Harrier (military jet) and the fighters ECM determined the gun as a threat and fried the unit with an electro magnetic pulse. Snopes.com has a similar story with a Tornado GR1 and says the story is false citing technical issues with the story they recieved which is a lot more extravagant than the one I read (missiles launched etc.) Still it was a fun story and puts this one in to perspective.