Flight For Life helicopter crews operating out of St. Mary-Corwin Medical Center have been increasingly targeted by laser pointers over the past year, putting the lives of crew members as well as any patient they may be transporting at serious risk.
Hospital officials reported Friday that crews on Flight For Life’s Lifeguard 4, which serves the vast majority of Southern Colorado not just Pueblo have been struck by laser pointers several times recently, particularly while flying near St Mary-Corwin and within the vicinity of Dutch Clark Stadium.
The consequences of any laser strike can be devastating, potentially even fatal.
“It’s one thing to mess around but when you’re pointing lasers at an aircraft you’re threatening people’s lives, and potentially threatening their careers,” said Eric Bellings, one of Lifeguard 4’s pilots.
When President John F. Kennedy came to Pueblo on Aug. 17, 1962, more than 100,000 people lined the road that s now U.S. 50 to catch a glimpse of the president as he traveled from Pueblo Memorial Airport to the school stadium that is now Dutch Clark.
Pueblo District Attorney Jeff Chostner who was just 11 years old at the time was not one of them.
Like most little kids, Chostner had other priorities. Rather than joining his grandparents and cousins, who lived on the East Side and stood among the crowds on Fourth Street, he spent the day playing baseball on the old diamond at East High School.