OK, so I've been reading about this story today, but now something has come up that I think is complete bullshit. It's bolded in the story below:

4 dead in Phoenix chopper collision

By JACQUES BILLEAUD, Associated Press Writer 20 minutes ago

Two news helicopters covering a police chase on live television collided and crashed to the ground Friday, killing all four people on board in a plunge that viewers saw as a jumble of spinning, broken images.

Both helicopters went down in a park in central Phoenix and caught fire. No one on the ground was hurt.

TV viewers did not actually witness the accident because cameras aboard both aircraft were pointed at the ground. But they saw video from one of the helicopters break up and begin to spin before the station abruptly switched to the studio.

Television station KNXV reported that it operated one of the choppers. The other was from KTVK. A pilot and photographer aboard each chopper were killed.

KNXV reporter Craig Smith, who was among the dead, was reporting live as police chased a man driving a construction truck who had fled a traffic stop. The man was driving erratically, hitting several cars and driving on the sidewalk at times.

Police had blown the truck's tires, and the man eventually parked it, then carjacked another vehicle nearby.

Just before the picture broke up, Smith said, "Oh geez!"

The station then switched to the studio and briefly showed regular programming, a soap opera, before announcing that the helicopter had crashed.

The man fleeing from police was later taken into custody. Police Chief Jack Harris suggested he could be charged in connection with the collision.

"I believe you will want to talk to investigators, but I think he will be held responsible for any of the deaths from this tragedy," Harris told reporters at the scene. He did not elaborate.

The two choppers came down on the grass lawn in front of a boarded-up church at the park. Firefighters swarmed to the area as thick black smoke rose from the scene.

Rick Gotchie, an air conditioning contractor, was working nearby when he noticed the helicopters overhead. He said they began circling closer as he continued watching.

"I kept saying 'Go lower, go lower,' but he didn't," Gotchie said. "It was like a vacuum. They just got sucked into each other, and they both exploded and pieces were flying everywhere."

He said he ran to the crash site, but "no one got out."

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the agency is reviewing air traffic control tapes to see if the pilots were talking to controllers at that time.

"Typically air traffic controllers clear helicopters into an area where they can cover a chase like this," Gregor said. "Once they are in the area, the pilots themselves are responsible for keeping themselves separated from other aircraft."

Keith McCutchen, a past president of the National Broadcast Pilots Association and a news pilot for 11 years in Indianapolis, said pilot awareness is vital while on the scene of a story because of the many distractions that could spell trouble.

"You are watching the scene. You have to bring your attention inside to look at the monitors to see what the audience is seeing so you can converse. But you're also having to direct your attention to the other aircraft flying around you.

"You have to have your head on a swivel in those kinds of situations," he said.

In Indianapolis, when news choppers descend on a story, they pick different altitudes and radio their positions to other pilots.

"I may be live on the air and one of the other guys may say, `Hey, I'm coming up on your left side,'" McCutchen said. "I'll break away from what I'm doing on the air and say, `Roger,' and then go back to talking."

Killed on board the KTVK chopper were pilot Scott Bowerbank and photographer Jim Cox. Smith and photographer Rick Krolak were aboard the KNXV aircraft, the stations reported.

Barbara Cochran, president of the Radio-Television News Directors Association in Washington, said the group does not track fatalities among helicopter news pilots, but she could not recall another example of two news choppers colliding while covering a story.

"These pilots, they are very professional. They combine the skills of pilots and skills as journalists," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Kahn and Pauline Arrillaga contributed to this report.

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Is this guy fuckin' serious thinking that they can somehow hold the guy who was running from the cops responsible for pilot error? Really? Do you guys find this statement to be complete bullshit too?

Wow, that's a noodlescratcher.

Maybe, just maybe, the media will take it easy on following car chases.

Right?

Wow this was like a quarter mile from where I work, I can't believe I didn't hear it. Unfortunately my window faces the wrong way. I guess that's why Indian School Road was totally blocked off today.



If the guy did in fact steal the car, then go ahead and charge him. Yeah it's not his fault they crashed, but it's his fault there were choppers out there flying around in a crowded area. I don't really feel too much sympathy for people doing selfish, irresponsible things like stealing cars. If it makes the families of the pilots feel better, then use the guy as a scapegoat.

How much leeway do News choppers get when it comes to flaunting FAA regulations?

Ironically, ABC 15 just a few days ago broke this "huge" story about a so-called security breach at the airport, and acted like total douchebags when interviewing the mayor of Phoenix. Congratulations, ABC 15, you can criticize details about others' work and make us 0.0003% safer while raising airport costs, but you can't even get your helicopter pilots to watch where they're flying!

100% bullshit, I'm with you Ara. Can't comprehend any way of that being a just charge.

We could have a discussion of the definition of "proximate cause" in torts, but this is a pretty borderline case. I'll send it to my law school profs for use on an exam.

Shouldn't you know about the possibility of an ensuing police chase if you steal a car though? Maybe he couldn't have predicted that two helicopters would collide, but certainly he had to be aware of the possibility of death in the police chase.

im with you 2

Um, weren't they news choppers, though? it's not like it was the police chasing him who crashed.

I'm not saying this guy should be charged, but it's really hard to feel guilty for the guy considering he brought this all on. He is at least indirectly involved in their deaths, as in it wouldn't have happened had he not stolen the car and led the police on a chase through an urban area.

I interned at Channel 15 during the fall 05 semester, and even though I didn't know Craig Smith and Rick Krolak personally, their deaths still shook me quite a bit, mostly because I know how close you become to people in this business. In the journalism field, you work with these people around the clock on a regular basis, and you really get to know your co-workers on a personal level. During my tenure in the sports department, I bonded with a number of photographers (one of whom had very similar musical tastes to mine), developed the respect and friendship of many reporters, and even met some of their wives and family members. The journalism field is like one giant fraternity, and the respect and camaraderie you find in the field is second to none. So I can only imagine the pain the people at Channel 15 and 3, as well as at other stations, are going through when they lose a friend and a comrade in such a sudden, tragic way as this. My sincere condolences go out to everyone at Channel 3 and 15, and to the families and friends of those who lost their lives in this tragedy.

As for whether or not the man should be charged, I'm not entirely sure. It's true that he didn't directly cause the two planes to crash, but if it wasn't for him leading police on a high speed chase, then this incident wouldn't have happened in the first place. I wouldn't charge him for murder, but there's probably a lesser charge you could file against the guy.

That's fuckin bizzare. And that guy better not be charged with causing this collision, it isn't his fault the choppers crashed.

There was a similar story to this (the charges) recently.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=124701



So if I'm caught shoplifting, and the police car that's coming out to get me gets into an accident and the officer is killed, I can be charged with second degree murder?

That's really fucking stupid. It's a lawyers country uh.

Grand theft auto is a long way from manslaughter. There is absolutely no reason he should be held responsible for the choppers. The pilots should be charged posthumously for reckless endangerment (or whatever charge is applicable) for not looking around outside their windows. How hard is it to avoid another helicopter? Idiots.

Yeah, no shit.

If the pilots can be charged for reckless endangerment, why can't the car thief be charged with reckless endangerment? After all, he did try to ram two police cars, hit somebody else's car, and led the police on a chase for about 20 miles. That's not reckless endangerment?

There are plenty of people who have been wrongfully accused who are far more worthy of our sympathy than this guy.