Bailee Lynn Rios was arrested on suspicion of murder after the collision between an SUV and a Los Angeles Metro Bus in Chatsworth on Sept. 15
Credit: FOX 11 Los Angeles/YouTube
NEED TO KNOW
- The woman accused of crashing an SUV into an L.A. Metro Bus was seen being wheeled into the San Fernando courthouse while strapped to a gurney on Friday, Sept. 18.
- A news helicopter covering the collision was involved in its own fatal crash mid-coverage
- After arriving at the courthouse, the judge deemed Bailee Lynn Rios medically unfit for arraignment, and in addition to two counts of second-degree murder, Rios has been charged with driving under the influence of a drug and reckless driving
A woman accused of killing two people and injuring six others when she slammed an SUV into an L.A. Metro bus appeared in court strapped to a gurney.
Footage obtained by KTLA 5 showed Bailee Lynn Rios arriving at the San Fernando courthouse by ambulance on Friday, Sept. 19. She was wheeled into the building while strapped to a gurney with what appeared to be two black eyes.
Rios’ attorneys argued that the 36-year-old was medically unable to take part in her arraignment, resulting in its postponement, ABC 7 and KTLA 5 reported. She has been receiving treatment at a medical facility for injuries sustained in the incident, which was followed by an NBC 4 helicopter crash as the chopper reported on the scene.
After the Sept. 15 collision between an SUV and a Los Angeles Metro Bus in Chatsworth, Rios was arrested on suspicion of murder.
She has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder, as well as driving under the influence of a drug and reckless driving, NBC News reported.
“What is particularly tragic about this case is that this is a preventable tragedy,” said Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, per the outlet.
If convicted, the DA said, “She will be looking at a maximum sentence of life in prison.”
According to an LAPD news release, Rios was traveling the wrong way on DeSoto Avenue in her 2004 Ford Expedition when she allegedly ran a red light and slammed into a Metro Bus.
“The impact fully ejected one passenger from the bus and partially ejected a second,” the news release stated. “Debris from the collision also damaged a blue 2024 Honda CR-V that was stopped, facing northbound, on DeSoto Avenue at Nordhoff Street.”
Credit: CHRIS TORRES/EPA/Shutterstock
Two passengers, Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31, were killed in the bus crash. Six additional people were transported to various hospitals for treatment, per the LAPD.
While covering the fatal crash moments later, an NBC 4 helicopter plummeted to the ground, killing reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, as well as a third person on the ground, 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia.
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In the moments after the incident occurred, anchor Colleen Williams was the first to break the news that the helicopter belonged to the local news station.
“We’ve been piecing it together,” she said live on air. “We knew it was a news chopper. We knew we’d lost contact with our people out there. And we’ve just received confirmation.”
In footage from the final haunting minutes of the chopper’s live stream, Moreno can be heard saying, “Uh oh,” as the camera begins to shake alongside the aircraft.
“Can you … you can’t pull up?” she continues before the footage abruptly ends.
In a press conference on Wednesday, Sept. 16, Fabian Salazar, NTSB Investigator in Charge, told reporters that the live stream video from inside the chopper is an integral part of the investigation surrounding the cause of the crash, ABC affiliate KABC reported.
“The video that was actually taken while the reporter was doing live coverage, that video is probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far,” he said. “In that recording, we are clearly hearing sounds that are consistent with the engine changing its speed, and we’re also hearing tones that are being generated that are likely advisories to the pilot.”
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