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

Three people died when a local television news helicopter crashed Tuesday night in Los Angeles' Chatsworth neighborhood while covering a Metro bus crash that claimed the lives of two bus passengers in the same area. As the NTSB begins its investigation into the chopper crash, reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw are being mourned [...] LOS ANGELES (AP) — 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 Monday night and is being held at a Los Angeles jail with bail set at $4 million, police said.

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 wasn’t 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 avenue, 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.NBC4 Los Angeles reported that two people aboard the helicopter — reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw — were killed when the chopper went down Tuesday in the Chatsworth neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley north of downtown.

A person on the ground, identified as 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia, died in a parking lot, the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s Office said.The crash happened as news crews were reporting on the collision involving an 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 chopper nears the ground.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.News station identifies those on the helicopterThe station identified the helicopter crash victims as Moreno, a familiar voice for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 during the statio…