As laser pointers hit multiple choppers, journalists catch alleged culprits (WATCH)

Several people are under arrest after allegedly pointing green lasers at news and police helicopters — and after the news choppers helped police track down the suspects.

"It's not everyday you help police with an arrest from 1,500 feet," Shannon Sohn, the ABC 7 reporter on board the helicopter during the incident, wrote on Facebook. The helicopter pilot, Capt. Randy Empey and Sohn, spotted the suspects and alerted police to their location, ABC 7 reported.

A few hours later, a green laser was pointed at a NBC 4 New York flying over the Prospect Heights section of Brooklyn, according to the Associated Press

Reporter Dennis Protsk, according to the station's report, zoomed the chopper's camera at two men beneath a health food store laughing and directing the laser at a NYPD helicopter.

"We could actually see him standing back outside the building with the laser in his hand shooting at us," Protsko said in raw video of the incident.

In the Brooklyn incident, Osseio Silva, 20 of Brooklyn was charged with reckless endangerment as a felony and reckless endangerment as a misdemeanor, according to the NYPD. It wasn't immediately clear what police agency responded to the Elizabeth incident. Elizabeth police referred questions to Port Authority police, who said they didn't handle that incident.

"People don't realize how often this happens. Its dangerous. The last thing anyone wants is a blinded pilot over their head," wrote ABC 7 helicopter John Del Giorno on his Facebook page.

New Jersey 101.5 is seeking comment from Elizabeth and New York police about the incidents.

In Dallas, the Federal Aviation Administration said, two jets and a private business jet were hit by a laser beam coming from Austin, Tex. A spokesman said the laser came from an area 11 miles southeast of Dallas and  a law enforcement helicopter was sent to investigate.

It is a federal crime to point any laser at a aircraft punishable by fines and jail time.