1 dead, 1 injured in HPD chopper crash
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1 dead, 1 injured in HPD chopper crash
HOUSTON – One officer was killed and the other one is in surgery after a Houston Police Department helicopter crashed early Saturday in an apartment complex in north Houston, according to local officials.
https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...north-houston/
https://www.click2houston.com/news/l...north-houston/
HOUSTON – One officer was killed, and the other officer is in critical condition after a Houston Police Department helicopter crashed early Saturday in an apartment complex in north Houston, according to local officials.
Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo identified Jason Knox, 35, as the tactical flight officer involved in the crash and later died at the hospital. He was the son of Houston councilmember at-large Mike Knox.
Acevedo said Jason Knox was a "good man.”
“If someone would have told me, a few hours later, we would have an aircraft down,” Acevedo said. “We would lose a really good man. I would have said no way.”
Knox had been with the police department for eight and half years and had been with their air unit for one year and three months,
HPD also asked for prayers for senior police officer Chase Cormier, 35, who was airlifted to Memorial Hermann hospital and went into surgery Saturday morning. Acevedo said the pilot was “very banged up." At a news briefing Saturday afternoon, Acevedo said Cormier was out of surgery and conscious.
According to HPD, Cormier was sworn in as an HPD officer in July 2006. He is currently assigned to the Air & Marine Divison. Cormier has been with the air support unit for three years.
During a news conference at the Texas Medical Center, Mayor Sylvester Turner called it a bad morning.
“I ask for the city of Houston to continue to lift up both families, especially lift up the family of the police officer that has died... At the same time, lift up the entire HPD family."
According to Acevedo, the two officers were in the 75 Fox helicopter from the Houston Police Department’s Air Operations Unit and were investigating reports of bodies floating in a bayou.
“They responded right before 2 a.m. and within minutes we got reports from the Houston Forensic Science Center crime scene unit that was working a murder scene at the 17000 block of Imperial Valley that our helicopter had gone down,” Acevedo said.
Officials from the Houston Fire Department, the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office all rushed to the scene, Acevedo said.
The pilot and the co-pilot were trapped in the wreckage for a while as crews worked to get them out.
Firefighters “worked feverishly to extricate and cut the pilots out. They literally had to cut the pilots out of the wreckage,” Acevedo said.
Once freed, the officers were airlifted to Memorial Hermann hospital for treatment and both were in critical condition with serious injuries, Acevedo said.
“The wreckage was pretty significant,” Acevedo said. “There were no flames involved and that’s been a blessing. And the silver lining. The other silver lining was the pilot was able to avoid the apartment buildings."
None of the residents of the apartment complex were injured in the crash.
“They were able to avoid going into the actual apartment buildings where people were sleeping and were able to, basically, they clipped a part of the clubhouse,” Acevedo said.
The injured pilot and technical flight officer’s families were picked up and rushed to the hospital.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Agency will conduct investigations, along with the Houston Police Department. In a briefing Saturday afternoon, Acevedo said the joint investigation could take weeks, if not months.
HPD will approach the crash as a homicide investigation.
“We have lost one of our own," Acevedo said. "We won’t leave any stone unturned as part of our investigation until the cause of this crash. We will look at it from a criminal standpoint to make sure there was no criminal activity that led to this tragic incident.”
Acevedo said the department was going to shut down flights until further notice as a precautionary measure as investigations continue. Meanwhile, HPD will get flight support from the Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Air Operations Division.
At about 3 a.m., while police were at the crash site, Acevedo said that shots rang out across the street and six suspects were taken into custody. Acevedo said this was a separate incident that was unrelated to the crash.
Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo identified Jason Knox, 35, as the tactical flight officer involved in the crash and later died at the hospital. He was the son of Houston councilmember at-large Mike Knox.
Acevedo said Jason Knox was a "good man.”
“If someone would have told me, a few hours later, we would have an aircraft down,” Acevedo said. “We would lose a really good man. I would have said no way.”
Knox had been with the police department for eight and half years and had been with their air unit for one year and three months,
HPD also asked for prayers for senior police officer Chase Cormier, 35, who was airlifted to Memorial Hermann hospital and went into surgery Saturday morning. Acevedo said the pilot was “very banged up." At a news briefing Saturday afternoon, Acevedo said Cormier was out of surgery and conscious.
According to HPD, Cormier was sworn in as an HPD officer in July 2006. He is currently assigned to the Air & Marine Divison. Cormier has been with the air support unit for three years.
During a news conference at the Texas Medical Center, Mayor Sylvester Turner called it a bad morning.
“I ask for the city of Houston to continue to lift up both families, especially lift up the family of the police officer that has died... At the same time, lift up the entire HPD family."
Here is what happened
The HPD crash was reported at about 2 a.m. at the Biscayne At Cityview Apartment complex located at 17050 Imperial Valley Drive, near the Greenspoint neighborhood.According to Acevedo, the two officers were in the 75 Fox helicopter from the Houston Police Department’s Air Operations Unit and were investigating reports of bodies floating in a bayou.
“They responded right before 2 a.m. and within minutes we got reports from the Houston Forensic Science Center crime scene unit that was working a murder scene at the 17000 block of Imperial Valley that our helicopter had gone down,” Acevedo said.
Officials from the Houston Fire Department, the Houston Police Department and the Harris County Sheriff’s Office all rushed to the scene, Acevedo said.
The pilot and the co-pilot were trapped in the wreckage for a while as crews worked to get them out.
Firefighters “worked feverishly to extricate and cut the pilots out. They literally had to cut the pilots out of the wreckage,” Acevedo said.
Once freed, the officers were airlifted to Memorial Hermann hospital for treatment and both were in critical condition with serious injuries, Acevedo said.
“The wreckage was pretty significant,” Acevedo said. “There were no flames involved and that’s been a blessing. And the silver lining. The other silver lining was the pilot was able to avoid the apartment buildings."
None of the residents of the apartment complex were injured in the crash.
“They were able to avoid going into the actual apartment buildings where people were sleeping and were able to, basically, they clipped a part of the clubhouse,” Acevedo said.
The injured pilot and technical flight officer’s families were picked up and rushed to the hospital.
What’s next?
The investigation into the HPD helicopter crash will be extensive, according to Acevedo.The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Agency will conduct investigations, along with the Houston Police Department. In a briefing Saturday afternoon, Acevedo said the joint investigation could take weeks, if not months.
HPD will approach the crash as a homicide investigation.
“We have lost one of our own," Acevedo said. "We won’t leave any stone unturned as part of our investigation until the cause of this crash. We will look at it from a criminal standpoint to make sure there was no criminal activity that led to this tragic incident.”
Acevedo said the department was going to shut down flights until further notice as a precautionary measure as investigations continue. Meanwhile, HPD will get flight support from the Department of Public Safety and the Harris County Air Operations Division.
At about 3 a.m., while police were at the crash site, Acevedo said that shots rang out across the street and six suspects were taken into custody. Acevedo said this was a separate incident that was unrelated to the crash.
Last edited by Senior Pilot; 2nd May 2020 at 21:29. Reason: Add quote
Helicopter involved was an MD 369E reg N8375F The helicopter had been involved in a previous incident in May 2016 where it was shot at and took 5 rounds from an AR-15 which according to the report caused substantial damage.
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The link below has audio and a transcript of the radio traffic between the first on scene and dispatchers. It might be unsettling to some.
https://abc13.com/helicopter-crash-h...ition/6144893/
Bodies in the water were a job for the Water Police. But sometimes they would push the body onto the shore and call for the regular cops. And they would nudge it back into the water. Nobody wanted to touch a body that was floating, as it would have been in the water for a few days, was awfully smelly, and the new home for a bunch of sea critters.
I never did a night search for a report of a body, though we would go out if it was a plane going down or a mayday from a boat. Otherwise, a body didn't need urgent attention unless it was likely to drift away and sink again.
I never did a night search for a report of a body, though we would go out if it was a plane going down or a mayday from a boat. Otherwise, a body didn't need urgent attention unless it was likely to drift away and sink again.
If you are going to assume a body in the water could still be alive, why would you send anything except a winch equipped helicopter with a rescue crewman?
Unless you coordinate surface craft as well your non-winch equipped helicopter can just sit and watch someone drown.
Unless you coordinate surface craft as well your non-winch equipped helicopter can just sit and watch someone drown.
As AC says, no-one wants to touch bodies that have been in the water for a while, the flesh strips easily from the bones if you try to pick them up and they smell to high heaven.
Originally Posted by [email protected]
If you are going to assume a body in the water could still be alive, why would you send anything except a winch equipped helicopter with a rescue crewman?
Unless you coordinate surface craft as well your non-winch equipped helicopter can just sit and watch someone drown.
Unless you coordinate surface craft as well your non-winch equipped helicopter can just sit and watch someone drown.
I presume by short haul, you mean rescue basket or similar - no problem with that as long as the casualty can get themselves into it which means they must be conscious and relatively uninjured. For an injured casualty there is no substitute for putting a rescue swimmer or winchman into the water with them.
FYI: I think it should be noted that the "body of water" being described is nothing more than a rather large "drainage ditch" flowing through an urban area. If it's the Greens Bayou I'm thinking of, one could probably throw a rope across it with a little effort in the area of the accident. But I have to agree with not wanting to pull the body out if it's been there for awhile.
Originally Posted by [email protected]
Try doing that with a decomposing body and see how far you get
I presume by short haul, you mean rescue basket or similar - no problem with that as long as the casualty can get themselves into it which means they must be conscious and relatively uninjured. For an injured casualty there is no substitute for putting a rescue swimmer or winchman into the water with them.
I presume by short haul, you mean rescue basket or similar - no problem with that as long as the casualty can get themselves into it which means they must be conscious and relatively uninjured. For an injured casualty there is no substitute for putting a rescue swimmer or winchman into the water with them.
I never did a night search for a report of a body,