LOS ANGELES – A pilot faced reckless flying and other charges for landing a helicopter on a public street to pick up Tommy Lee and take him to a concert, prosecutors said.
David Keith Martz, 49, landed the helicopter July 7 outside a home in the Hollywood Hills to give the 43-year-old rocker a 50-mile flight to a Nine Inch Nails concert in Irvine, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the City Attorney's Office.
Martz was charged with one count each of reckless flying, landing an aircraft on a public road and landing an aircraft without a permit, Mateljan said. Martz was to be arraigned in Hollywood on Wednesday.
Each charge carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
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Martz, who lives in the La Jolla area of San Diego County, has an unlisted telephone number and couldn't be reached. Mateljan said the city attorney's office didn't know the name of his lawyer.
Lee publicist Dvora Vener Englefield said Tuesday that Lee would have no comment.
Officers with the police department's Air Support Division, alerted by calls, spotted the helicopter hovering above the home and watched as the pilot landed on the street and went into the house.
Other officers went and told Martz that he had illegally landed on a public roadway, but Martz, Lee and two other passengers got into the aircraft and flew south, the city attorney's office said. Two hours later, the party returned and landed again despite being warned by authorities not to do so, officials said.
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