A police chase through the streets of downtown Phoenix turned into a midair tragedy Friday afternoon when two television news helicopters covering the action collided and crashed to the ground in smoke and flame, killing all four people on board.
Two news helicopters plummet to earth after colliding in midair over a park in Phoenix, Arizona.
KTVK-TV said photojournalist Jim Cox and pilot Scott Bowerback were killed. KNXV-TV identified its crew as photographer Rick Krolak and pilot Craig Smith.
The helicopters collided as the rival stations were covering the police pursuit of a stolen white truck towing a trailer. Assistant Chief Mark Angle of the Phoenix Fire Department said wreckage from both helicopters then landed in a downtown park.
Aerial footage from another station covering the chase, KPNX-TV, showed large plumes of black smoke and flames coming from the wreckage. Watch smoke and flames pour from debris »
"I was driving and heard a bang," one unnamed witness told KPHO.
"I was standing out on Central Avenue and I was looking over to the park and saw the helicopters get close," Jerry Fender told KPHO. "The blue one split and went down. The red or orange one went right after it."
"Looked something like 9/11 with debris exploding everywhere," said witness Brian Kenneth, the station reported.
Rick Gotchie, a Phoenix air-conditioning contractor working at a nearby building, was watching the helicopters circling the scene and noticed they were getting closer to each other, The Associated Press reported.
"I kept saying go lower, go lower, but he didn't," Gotchie said.
Angle said the "silver lining" in the accident was that the choppers did not hit any structures on the ground. The site of the crash was near a Veterans Affairs hospital and several high-rise buildings, he said.
"We do not believe at this time that anyone on the ground was struck," Angle said.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced it will send a team to Phoenix to investigate the crash.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told The Associated Press that the agency is reviewing air traffic control tapes to see if the helicopters' pilots were communicating before the crash.
"Typically air traffic controllers clear helicopters into an area where they can cover a chase like this," Gregor told AP. "Once they are in the area, the pilots themselves are responsible for keeping themselves separated from other aircraft."
Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris said the chase began when police received a report of a stolen vehicle and began pursuing a suspect, who eventually abandoned that vehicle and stole the white truck that was being chased at the time of the chopper collision.
The suspect later bailed out of that vehicle and barricaded himself in a house, where he was captured by SWAT officers who stormed the residence, police said.
Phoenix police Sgt. Joel Tranter said the man was treated at a hospital for several dog bites before being booked into jail.
The police chief said the suspect will likely face criminal charges for the deaths in the helicopter crash.
"I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris said.
The park would remain closed indefinitely while investigators worked, Tranter said
Video from one of the copters involved
http://www.breitbart.tv/?p=3645
What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it.
I think that is crazy for the suspect to be held responsible for any of the deaths due to the helicopters crash.
The suspect did not cause the pilots to act the way they did while trying to cover this story. Their competitiveness is what caused this crash. Just Crazy!!
I agree. Next thing you know, accident victims will be held responsible for accidents caused by rubberneckers.
Anyway, I was wondering when this was going to happen. Too much coverage of these things on CNN and such.
Maynard said it best..
"Vicarious"
Eye on the TV
'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavour
It happens to be like;
Killed by the husband
Drowned by the ocean
Shot by his own son
She used the poison in his tea
And kissed him goodbye
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies
Don't look at me like
I am a monster
Frown out your one face
But with the other
Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother
Holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying
Why, oh why?
'cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie
Why can't we just admit it?
Why can't we just admit it?
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
Neither the brave nor bold
The writers of stories sold
We won't give pause until the blood is flowing
I need to watch things die
From a good safe distance
Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
You all feel the same so
Why can't we just admit it?
Blood like rain come down
Drawn on grave and ground
Part vampire
Part warrior
Carnivore and voyeur
Stare at the transmittal
Sing to the death rattle
La, la, la, la, la, la, la-lie
Credulous at best your desire to believe in
Angels in the hearts of men
Pull your head on out
Your head believes it give a listen
Shouldn't have to say it all again
The universe is hostile
So impersonal
Devour to survive, so it is
So it's always been
We all feed on tragedy
It's like blood to a vampire
Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
Much better you than I
Nothing but the process is infinite
Eternal, endless, indefinite
I thought the same exact thing when I first heard that.
In honor and memory of my best friend Toby (oletob)
Take em one at a time and everything else will take care of itself
Was it Don Henly that said
"Got a bubble-headed bleach blond that comes on at 5
She can tell ya 'bout the plane crash with a gleam in her eye.."
and that was the 70's version.
the next line says it all
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