PORT ALLEN, La. (BRPROUD) — The National Transportation Safety Board released a preliminary report revealing more details of the helicopter crash that killed two BRPD officers on March 26.
Sgt. David Poirrier, 47, and Cpl. Scotty Canezaro, 38, were identified as the fallen officers. They were in the helicopter assisting in a police chase after a suspect when the crash happened.
Federal report gives timeline of crash
2:26 a.m. — According to the NTSB, the helicopter left the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport around 2:26 a.m. to support a police chase. Officials said Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) data showed the helicopter left the airport and headed south, turned west, and passed Highway 190.
2:35 a.m. — The report said BRPD decided to stop the chase due to unsafe conditions at 2:35 a.m., including the helicopter. There was reportedly no further communication from the helicopter at that time.
Officials said data shows the helicopter made a low left deviation to the south of Highway 190 and made a left turn. The turn rate increased, according to NTSB, and followed a series of turns and altitude changes.
2:38 a.m. — ADS-B data ended at an altitude of 1,450 feet above ground level, according to NTSB.
10:49 a.m. — The West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office told investigators a family member reported that one of the flight officers never returned home almost eight hours after the chase ended.
11:14 a.m. — Deputies found pieces of the helicopter at near an irrigation ditch at the edge sugarcane field in West Baton Rouge. The main wreckage included the cockpit, fuselage, and tail cone, officials said. The main rotor transmission, mast, and main rotor blades were in a wooded area about 250 feet east of the main wreckage, NTSB reported.
Read the full report below.
