Police Geolocate Footage to Identify Driver Who Shone Laser Beam at Trucker

Police in Spain said on November 21 they had used open-source investigative techniques to geolocate footage posted on social media showing a driver shining a laser beam at a trucker and that the offender faces a fine of up to €30,000.

The incident took place on November 11, police said, as the trucker was driving along the AP-2 toll road in Huesca, in the province of Aragon. A driver in a van ahead of the truck shone a green laser at the truck repeatedly.

Police compared kilometer markers on the road and a road sign visible in the footage to identify the precise location.

The Civil Guard of Asturias, “produced a report in which, frame by frame, it managed to reel off various reference points to identify the path in which the events had occurred,” police said, according to an online translation of their statement.

“Once the place between kilometers 125 and 123 of the AP-2 toll road (Zaragoza-Mediterráneo), the municipality of Soses and the judicial district of La Seu de Urgell (Lleida), has been identified, as well as the registration of the delivery van From when the offense was committed, the agents contacted the company and obtained the details of the worker who was driving the vehicle at the time.

“The Civil Guard has instructed a file for a very serious infringement of the Law for the Protection of Citizen Security under the following precept: ’The projection of light beams, by any type of device, on the pilots or drivers of means of transport that may dazzle them or distract their attention and cause accidents ’, which was sent to the Government Sub-delegation of Lleida (Catalonia).” Credit: Guardia Civil via Storyful