Charges were brought against pilot Warren Saunders after he admitted to police that he dropped from his aircraft three rolls of toilet paper that landed near the active athletic fields of a New Jersey middle school, Wednesday evening. The toilet paper rolls were not dry when they reached the ground, though authorities seem to believe they were dry when they left the aircraft. “They apparently got wet on the way down,” Westwood Police Chief Frank Regino told local newspaper the Cliffview Pilot. Parents of soccer players who were using the field for practice at the time of the incident called police. “Based on the advice of the advice of the FAA and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, we drafted a complaint under Title 6, Chapter 2, dash 11 (Title 6:2-11),” Regino said. “It’s basically a fourth-degree crime of dropping things from a plane.” Sixty-year-old Saunders’ drop was meant to be a practice run for a second drop he’d planned for Saturday.
Police estimate there were roughly 100 people on or around the field at the time of Saunders’ first attempt. The second drop would have taken place over a high school football game and Saunders was apparently trying to learn how he’d eject colored streamers from the aircraft, or how they might fall. Detectives followed the trail to Saunders after a parent brought to their attention that high schoolers were discussing the prank online. Police contacted the FAA through Teterboro airport and collected the names of local pilots. The trail quickly ended with Saunders. Of the three rolls dropped, one landed on the field, another landed near bleachers and a third wound up near some trees.
