Driver arrested in bus collision that happened before LA news helicopter crash

A motorist was arrested on murder charges after authorities say she slammed her SUV into a city bus in Los Angeles, killing at least two people and injuring six others in a prelude to a second deadly tragedy: the fiery crash of a TV news helicopter that was covering the collision.

Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, of Simi Valley, was arrested on Tuesday night and is being held at a Los Angeles jail with bail set at four million dollars (£3 million) police said on Wednesday.

The case is being forwarded to the district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file the charges in court or pursue different ones.

Information on a lawyer who could speak on her behalf was not immediately available.

The helicopter, which was used by NBC and Telemundo, crashed about two hours after police say Rios drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy road, ran a red light and struck a vehicle before hitting the bus.

One passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected, police said.

Rios’ mother, Cindy Rios, said she was shocked and saddened by the string of events.

She said she had not spoken to Bailee Lynn since her arrest and had not been contacted by police.

The two people who died in the bus crash were identified as Gage Weida, 31, and Daniel Castillo, 46, of Los Angeles. No city was given for Weida, but according to his Facebook page, he also lived in Los Angeles.

NBC4 Los Angeles reported that two people aboard the helicopter — reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw — were killed when the helicopter went down on Tuesday in the Chatsworth area in the San Fernando Valley.

A person on the ground, identified as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, died in a car park, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said.

He was from Guatemala, the country’s consulate confirmed.

The crash happened as news crews were reporting on the collision involving the SUV that slammed into the bus.

There were no immediate details on what caused the helicopter crash, but an alarm could be heard sounding inside the helicopter’s cockpit as it lost altitude in the final seconds of video the crew broadcast before the crash.

Just after the beeping noise starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh”.

The helicopter moves quickly away from the bus crash site and starts losing altitude.

The woman says “You can’t pull up?” before the video stops as the helicopter nears the ground.

“That video is probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far,” National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said on Wednesday at a news briefing.

Mr Salazar said the sounds were consistent with the helicopter’s engine changing speed, as well as what he said were likely advisory tones for the pilot.

The NTSB said it is also investigating the bus collision.

The helicopter, a Eurocopter AS350, went down near a large storage facility.

At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire.

NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was at the bus scene and saw black smoke and rushed to the helicopter crash site.

Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm sounding in the helicopter’s final video sounds like the low rotor RPM warning horn that signals the main rotor is no longer spinning enough to keep the helicopter in the air.

“It just has all the earmarks of a potential loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in the main rotor speed,” said Mr Guzzetti who used to investigate crashes for both the NTSB and FAA.