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PHOENIX – Two news helicopters collided in midair and crashed while covering a police pursuit in central Phoenix Friday afternoon. Officials said there were no survivors.
Both helicopters were from local television stations. Two people were in each of the aircraft, officials said.
TV station KNXV identified the people aboard its aircraft as reporter-pilot Craig Smith and photographer Rick Krolak. Station KTVK said pilot-reporter Scott Bowerbank was aboard its helicopter, along with photographer Jim Cox.
Both helicopters collided and then fell into Steele Indian School Park in Central Phoenix and caught fire. Video from the scene showed flames and thick black smoke from where both helicopters crashed. Office buildings and a VA hospital were not far from the crash site.
Phoenix TV station KPHO said the helicopters were following a police chase that began when someone allegedly stole a vehicle. Phoenix police boxed the driver in, and he stole another vehicle. About five minutes into that second chase, the two aircraft collided, KPHO reported.
KPHO reported that just before the crashes, the driver of the truck police had been chasing had jumped out of the nearly disabled flatbed pickup and carjacked another truck.
The truck was riding on rims because it had run over police stop sticks.
“I was driving and heard a bang,” one 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 said. “The blue one split and went down. The red or orange one went right after it.” Fender said he didn’t see them crash.
“I looked up and I see this ‘boom’ and I see one of the helicopters coming down, and I said ‘Oh my God’” witness Mary Lewis told The Associated Press. She said she said she went to the crash site to help, she found “just burned up stuff.”
