Deaf Man Sentenced to 18 Months for Targeting Delta Pilot with Laser Pointer Near Buffalo Airport
A deaf man from Cheektowaga, New York, has been sentenced to 18 months in a federal prison after he pleaded guilty to aiming a laser pointer at the pilot of a Delta Air Lines plane, which was on its final approach to land at Buffalo Niagara International Airport. 31-year-old Joseph L. Crapsi had been fighting the prosecution brought by the Assistant U.S. Attorneys Charles M. Kruly and Craig R. Gestring following an investigation by the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority Police Department and the FBI. Crapsi’s attorneys had asked the court to suppress evidence that the laser pointer was found in his bedroom and objected to a finding that police had probable cause to arrest him. In the end, however, the court found that the police were within their rights to arrest him, and the laser pointer was used in evidence. The case stemmed from an incident on the night of March 2, 2024, when Delta flight DL-2334 was coming into land. The final approach path saw the jet fly close to Crapsi’s house in Cheektowaga, just a few miles from Buffalo Niagara Airport. Following the incident, the pilot reported the ‘laser strike’ to police, who started making enquiries in the area that the crew said the laser was coming from. One of Crapsi’s neighbors told officers that they saw a laser shining through his window on ‘multiple occasions.’ Given that the laser was seen shining into the sky, the court ruled that this was sufficient to meet the low standard of probable cause. Officers knocked at Crapsi’s address and were invited inside. They went with him to his bedroom, where they noticed a laser pointer ‘in plain sight.’ The laser pointer was seized as evidence, and Crapsi was arrested. Crapsi eventually pleaded guilty to aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft contrary to 18 U.S. Code § 39A, which carries a maximum sentence of five years imprisonment. Late last week, U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. Vilardo sentenced Crapsi to 18 months’ imprisonment. In 2023, there were a record 13,304 laser pointer incidents reported across the United States – an increase of nearly 80% compared to 2016. The number of incidents have, however, slightly decreased in recent years. In 2024, there were 12,840 reported laser incidents, and 10,993 were reported in 2025. So far this year, there have been 3,325 incidents up to the end of June. It was made illegal to aim a laser pointer at aircraft in 2012, following a dramatic rise in the number of incidents being reported by pilots. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reports that the vast majority of laser strikes occur on Fridays and Saturdays, with a noticeable increase in reports during the months of October and November. Laser incidents can temporarily blind and injure pilots. In one incident involving a Virgin Atlantic flight from London to Tel Aviv, Israel, the pilots had to return to London because the pilot’s vision got progressively worse and he was only able to see out of one eye.