Two Police Helicopters Collide In California, Six Officers Injured

Two police helicopters in Pasadena, California collided on Saturday afternoon, injuring six police personnel.

No deaths were reported, but six police personnel received minor injuries during the crash as one of the police helicopters clipped the side of another helicopter.

According to NBC News:

“The incident occurred at 4:10 p.m. at the Pasadena Police Department’s helipad at 2175 Yucca Lane in Altadena (map), about 1 1/2 miles north of the Rose Bowl.”

The helicopters involved including a patrol chopper and a traffic monitoring aircraft that was assigned with watching over traffic as vehicles left the Rose Bowl.

The Mercury News reports that the accident occurred as one chopper was landing and the other was taking off.

The officers were transported to a local hospital where they received treatment for minor injuries. The report originally named six injured officers but later changed that number to five. Later in the day, the report was amended to include six injuries.

According to a Pasadena police spokeswoman:

“We have five people that were transported, all with a complaint of pain. It would appear at this point that there are no major injuries to our people.”

The injured included both helicopter pilots, three observing parties, and one officer on the ground.

Observers in the vicinity say they heard a loud explosion as the two helicopters collided.

Thankfully both aircraft were close enough to the ground to avoid deadly impacts.

Officials have not yet explained why the accident occurred or what steps are being taken to avoid similar situations in the future.