Craig Melvin And NBC Mourn After Two Chatsworth Crashes Killed Five Including An NBC4 Helicopter Crew
Tuesday September 15 was a devastating night in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, two separate tragedies within two hours and less than a quarter mile of each other that left five people dead and sent shockwaves through the NBC family.
At approximately 5 PM, a gray 2004 Ford Expedition driven by 36-year-old Simi Valley resident Bailee Lynn Rios ran a red light on De Soto Avenue at freeway speeds and slammed into the side of an LA Metro Line 166 bus crossing Nordhoff Street.
Two passengers, Gage Weida, 31, and Daniel Castillo, 46, were killed. Six others were hospitalized. Rios was arrested Wednesday on two murder charges and is held on $4.03 million bail.
Then at approximately 7 PM, an NBC4 Los Angeles news helicopter that had been providing aerial coverage of the bus crash site crashed into a parking lot near a storage facility on North Mason Avenue.
Aerial photojournalist Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, both Angel City Air employees who had been familiar faces on NBC4 and Telemundo 52, were killed. A third victim, Edy Gutierrez Mejia, 29, who was on the ground, also died.
Craig Melvin, who serves as co-anchor of Today on NBC, led tributes to Moreno and Marciniw on Wednesday morning. California Governor Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass both visited the scene Tuesday night. The NTSB is investigating the helicopter crash. A preliminary report is expected in 30 days.
