ABC 15 in Phoenix reports that one person was killed and another person is critically injured when a Houston Police Department helicopter crashed into an apartment complex clubhouse in North Houston over the weekend.
According to a statement given by Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo, the crash happened just after 2:00 a.m. in the 1700 block of Imperial Valley. The police chopper was responding to a call that was reporting bodies being found in a bayou.
The chopper went down shortly after responding to the call. A viewer of the ABC affiliate in Houston, KTRK, was able to capture the helicopter on video just before the crash. Moments after the police chopper was spinning in the air; eyewitnesses say the aircraft with two officers on board took a nosedive.
Good Samaritans in the area raced out to try to help while rescue crews were called to the scene. Firefighters with the Houston Fire Department had to use saws and the jaws of life to extricate the pilot and a tactical officer from the wreckage. It took about an hour for firefighters to free the officers.
The two officers were airlifted separately to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston. One of the officers, who was acting as the tactical officer on board the helicopter, died at the hospital while the second officer remains in critical condition.
The identities of the officers have not been released at the time of the report. The crash is currently under investigation by local law enforcement authorities, the FAA, and NTSB investigators.
On behalf of the Zanes Law Firm, we offer our deepest condolences to the families and the men and women who serve beside the fallen Houston police officers.
