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Clark Gable's Grandson Pleads Guilty To Pointing Laser At LAPD Helicopter

LOS ANGELES (CBS) —  Clark Gable's 23-year-old grandson pleaded guilty Thursday to a felony charge for pointing a laser at a Los Angeles Police Department helicopter flying over Hollywood last summer.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Horwitz is expected to sentence Clark James Gable of Canoga Park to 10 days in jail and 200 hours of Caltrans service, said Deputy District Attorney Holly Harpham.

In exchange for his plea to the felony count, prosecutors will ask that two additional felony charges of discharge of a laser and one count of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury be dismissed when Gable is sentenced next month.

The late actor's namesake, who was 22 at the time, admitted pointing a green laser at an LAPD helicopter that was flying 800 feet above Hollywood Boulevard shortly after 10 p.m. on July 28.

The 52-milliwatt laser light -- which has a range of more than 1,000 feet in altitude -- obstructed the vision of two LAPD officers in the helicopter, Harpham said.

Officers suspected the laser beam had come from a small red car. The vehicle in which Gable was riding was stopped at Highland Avenue and Franklin Place, where he was arrested.

Prosecutors declined to file charges against the car's driver, Maximilian Anderson, citing insufficient evidence that the 23-year-old man knew the laser was being pointed at the helicopter.

"It was a misunderstanding, you know, people make mistakes and you learn from them," Gable told KCAL9 after his arrest. "(The laser) was just a gift that I got, and people make mistakes and that's the bottom line. I'm going to learn from it and hopefully others will."

 (©2011 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Wire services contributed to this report.)

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