Two Suspects Nabbed
in Berkeley Laser Pointer Robbery
By Christin Ayers, October 25, 2002 11:33 PM
BERKELEY -- Two men are in police custody after allegedly robbing a Berkeley man using a red laser pointer as a simulated gun, Berkeley police said.
Police said the suspects, 18-year-old Lyndell Alexander Taylor and his partner, a 17-year old, who has been booked at Juvenile Hall, pulled the robbery off without a weapon, instead pointing a concealed red laser pen at the victim’s chest, causing him to believe that the two were armed with laser-guided guns.
The suspects are said to have approached the 43-year old victim Wednesday evening in front of his house on the 1900 block of Parker Street. Berkeley Police Spokesman, Officer Mary Kusmiss said the first robber demanded the victim’s wallet, removed $120, and then told the victim to look down.
“When he looked down, he saw a red laser dot pointed at his chest and thought that the second suspect had a gun,” she said.
Officer Kusmiss said that the two suspects then commanded the victim to shake hands with them and said, “No hard feelings, man. We’re just doing our jobs.”
A police officer later arrested Taylor and the 17-year old suspect after hearing a radio description of the two and discovering them four blocks away from the crime scene.
Police officials said that the victim was able to positively identify the suspects in a police line-up.
Paul Lavely, a laser specialist at the UC Berkeley Office of Radiation Safety, said that using laser pointers as simulated weapons is not an uncommon practice, although California has yet to develop legislation that charges a suspect for using a laser pointer as a weapon.
“Using a laser pointer to scare someone into giving you money is the same as using a toy gun to rob a convenience store,” said Lavely. “It should be a crime.”
According to Lavely, California law only considers pointing a gun-attachable laser site at someone as a crime, not a laser pointer, which can be obtained at office supply stores for as little as $2.00.
“It’s a legal loophole,” said Lavely, who holds a juris doctor from UC Berkeley.
The absence of such legislation means that, if convicted, the robbery suspects will only have to answer to one charge of felony robbery, which carries a bail of $30,000.
The other suspect, who is a minor, will be detained at juvenile hall, Kusmiss said.
