"You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!" -- Dr. Evil
Lenny J. Tavarez didn't have the sharks, but he did, according to cops, have the laser. Tavarez, 19, was arrested in Hunting Park Tuesday night after he shined a Philadelphia police helicopter pilot in the eye with a laser. Police officials said Air Tac 2 was flying near Palmetto Street and Hunting Park Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. when Tavarez used a silver, pen-like green laser to briefly blind the pilot.
The pilot and his partner used Tac Air's spotlight to single out Tavarez, who continued to target the helicopter with the laser. Cops on the ground followed the light and arrested Tavarez. He was charged with risking a catastrophe, aggravated assault and related offenses.
Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.
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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.
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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.
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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.
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