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Man Charged With Pointing Laser at Nashville Police Helicopter During Street Racing

A suspect has been arrested for allegedly shining a laser at a Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) helicopter during street racing on Saturday, May 27, police said.

Jacob Derryberry, 21, was arrested on two felony counts of aggravated assault on the MNPD flight crew, and one count of contributing to the delinquency of minors, with a bond of $55,000, according to police.

“Directing a laser toward toward any flying aircraft is dangerous and can impair the vision of pilots,” the MNPD tweeted. “It happened again to an MNPD helicopter crew Sat night as they came upon dangerous street racing activity in a corporate parking lot in South Nashville.”

Earlier in May, two men were charged with three counts of felony aggravated assault each for separate incidents of shining lasers at an MNPD helicopter, police said.

Footage from the MNPD shows street racing taking place in a La Vergne parking lot, as seen from the police helicopter. After a laser is shone, the suspect’s car is identified by the crew. Credit: Metro Nashville Police Department via Storyful

Video Transcript

[HELICOPTER ENGINES]

- Air-one.

- Through to Air-one.

- Give us a 44 number for 1501 corporate place. This is where the street racers are now and we're going to get down low and try to scatter them out.

[HELICOPTER ENGINES]

[INAUDIBLE]

We got this group dispersed. But in the meantime, they shot mortars up at us and hit us with a laser. We're trying to locate who was just laziness. [INAUDIBLE] Joey, are you closed out there or not headed up that direction? And I'm not [INAUDIBLE] to head out there.

[WALKIE-TALKIE]

- What did you get?

- Air-one. I got the car right now still shooting lasers out the back window. It's a white small sedan and we're going to try to keep eyes on it.

[HELICOPTER ENGINES]

Air-one. They're still lasering us. And we still got them in sight. Firestone coming up on OHB. Right there.