Man Charged With Shining Laser At Donald Trump's Marine One Helicopter

US authorities have charged a man who pointed a laser at the presidential helicopter carrying President Trump as it departed from the White House, according to court documents filed Monday.

Jacob Samuel Winkler, 33, was observed by a Secret Service officer directing a red laser beam from the sidewalk outside White House grounds at Marine One during takeoff on Saturday, as stated in an affidavit.

Authorities detained Winkler immediately and charged him with aiming a laser pointer at an aircraft, a serious offense that carries a potential prison sentence of up to five years.

According to the court filing, Winkler's actions "posed a risk of flash blindness and pilot disorientation, particularly during low-level flight near other helicopters... and the Washington Monument," creating a situation that "placed Marine One at risk of an airborne collision."

After being handcuffed, Winkler "got on his knees and started saying things like, 'I should apologize to Donald Trump,'" the Secret Service officer noted in the document.

Winkler later claimed to authorities that "he did not know he could not point the laser at Marine One" and that "he points the laser at all kinds of things, such as stop signs."

The court documents did not specify whether anyone aboard the helicopter detected the laser.

At the time of the incident, Trump was traveling to Virginia to deliver a speech to the American Cornerstone Institute, according to media reports.

The Federal Aviation Administration has emphasized that lasers constitute a "serious safety threat" to aircraft and can potentially incapacitate pilots.

The agency has documented 5,913 laser incidents this year.