News Helicopters Collide While Filming Police Chase

A lawyer worth his salt should get that tossed easily.

The helicopters decide to go in the air after the crime has been committed. To me, not the same as someone dying in a convenience store in crossfire from an armed-robbery attempt.

 

I would think that the Phoenix PD will be quietly told by the state or county, whomever, not to embarrass themselves by filing those charges.

 

This was a sad story, yet not surprising, considering how many times we see these live events shot from helicopters. Sometimes you can see other copters flying close by.

Actually, I'm surprised a "citizen journalist" hasn't been killed videotaping a tornado or something like that.

 

I'm just back from vacation and seeing this thread for the first time. I'm glad to see it's been civil.

This crash happened a mile or two down the road from my station. Our chopper was in the air but was not one of the two involved.

I worked with one of the pilots a few times over the years but did not know him well. The photog in the ABC 15 chopper joined that station at almost the exact time I left it 9 years ago. I'm sure my path has crossed with the Channel 3 photographer in the 12 years I've worked in Phoenix, though I did not know him.

It still isn't clear why the crash happened. According to witnesses the helicopters were in a hover, and the ABC 15 chopper banked to turn and slammed into the Channel 3 chopper. The pilots are in constant communication in a situation like that one, but it sounds like they somehow lost sight of each other.

I know the helicopter crews in town are especially rattled to know that Scott Bowerbank was the pilot killed in the Channel 3 chopper. He trained a huge percentage of the pilots in this area. He was very highly regarded around here.

A horribly sad side-note to all of this; Rick Krolak was the photographer killed in the ABC 15 chopper. Just before he went up in the helicopter yesterday, he sent an e-mail to the rest of his newsroom asking his colleagues to pray for his family. His 5 year old granddaughter had died the night before.

As you might imagine, one of the last things I want to do right now is get in a debate over the coverage of car chases, but I will say this: If you don't like them, stop watching them and they will go away. Everyone complains about the coverage and then the ratings double when someone puts a chase on the air. I'd be very happy to stop covering them, and I'll bet we do stop for a while. Long term, though, I don't see it changing much.

As for the charges... police don't file charges. County attorneys do. If he files murder or manslaughter charges it would likely be to put the prosecutors' office in a stronger position for a plea bargain. Legally he'd be on fairly solid ground, I think, but it's enough of a stretch that I doubt he'd get a conviction.

 

His 5-year old granddaughter died the night before?

Holy...

 

I just watched the video. Why were they up there in the first place? A guy stealing a car doesn't seem like much of a story to me. I mean, Phoenix is a bigger place than that.

 

It was a police pursuit, and in the middle of the pursuit he stopped, bailed out of his truck with the flattened tires and carjacked someone to continue the chase.

 

Okay, it was two stolen cars. Still not enough to merit that kind of coverage.

 

Again, it was a police chase right through the middle of the city. The guy was hitting other cars every few seconds. Any station is going to put its chopper up to follow that. I don't get the mystery over "that kind of coverage."

 

PC, I think a lot of us are wondering why 6 or 7 choppers need to be up at the same time.

Pool the coverage for safety.
Or, don't bother.
Sadly, though, LA ratings spike when they go live with it and pre-empt programming.

 

The short answer is, pooling it isn't nearly as easy as it sounds. It would be impossible right now, and extraordinarily expensive to change the technical system to make it feasible. And that's not considering the disputes between stations that will arise, and the fact that without on-air "talent" in the chopper it becomes less useful for everyone.

 

How is it not feasible?
Sharing if signals is not hard.