The Coast Guard fined a Freeland man $100,000 this week for allegedly striking a state ferry with a high-powered laser Oct. 22, 2015.

The Coast Guard reported that investigating officers determined that Mark Raden, 27, was aboard the Kitsap transiting between Mukilteo and Clinton when he pointed the blue laser at the pilot house of the Tokitae, resulting in injuries to the ferry captain and chief mate.

The captain suffered a damaged retina and a first-degree burn to the eyelid, according to a State Patrol report.

Island County prosecutors charged Raden in Superior Court with two counts of third-degree assault, which are felonies. He also faces a charge of unlawful discharge of a laser related to an earlier incident in Langley.

The Coast Guard reported that officials are seeking the civil penalty for violation of a safety and security zone as well as interference with the safe operation of the Tokitae. The final civil penalty amount will be determined by a Coast Guard Hearing Officer in Arlington, Va.

“Firing a laser at a vessel is extremely dangerous and directly interferes with the safe movement of commercial vessels and the Coast Guard’s ability to conduct search and rescue operations,” Capt. Joe Raymond, Captain of the Port, Sector Puget Sound, said in a press release.

In addition to laser strikes on ferries, laser strikes involving Coast Guard helicopters and rescue boats in Puget Sound have increased over the last few years, according to the Coast Guard.

Such strikes have adverse impacts on the conduct of Coast Guard law enforcement and search-and-rescue activities, potentially affecting the ability to respond to a distress call or provide proper medical care to someone rescued. In addition, lasers can cause physical injury to any individuals struck.

A trooper with the Washington State Patrol seized the laser from Raden on the ferry and sent it to be tested at the University of Washington Biomedical Electronics Services.

The laser output was tested at 1.1 watts. In another test, the laser was pointed at a piece of wood five feet away; the wood immediately blackened and smoldered in about three seconds, according to the police report.

In the other case, Raden is accused of pointing a purple laser at a Langley police officer’s face last July.