Savannah Sampson, right, and Nicole Lewis, help organize a vigil for the victims of Tuesday’s fatal collision of an SUV-Metro bus and the subsequent crash of a television news helicopter covering it in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption toggle caption Jae C. Hong/AP LOS ANGELES — An SUV driver was under the influence of drugs when she swerved into the lane wrong. She ran a red light and crashed into a Los Angeles city bus, killing two passengers, prosecutors said Thursday as they charged her with murder. It was a tragedy compounded by the subsequent fatal crash of a television news helicopter that had been covering the collision. Bailee Lynn Rios was speeding and under the influence when she drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy road and crashed into a vehicle before crashing into a city bus on Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said at a news conference. Rios, 36, faces two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of the two people on the bus, identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31. Rios was being held on $4.1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Online court records did not list an attorney who could speak on her behalf, and the public defender’s office said it had not been appointed to represent her. Contacted Wednesday, his mother Cindy Rios said she was shocked and saddened by the series of events. He said he had not spoken to Bailee Lynn Rios since her arrest and that authorities had not contacted her. She could not immediately be reached for additional comment Thursday. The news helicopter crash killed both people on board, pilot George Marciniw and reporter Eliana Moreno, and a man on the ground, Edy Gutiérrez Mejía. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire. In this aerial view, people investigate the aftermath of a helicopter crash in Chatsworth, a Los Angeles neighborhood, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026. Ethan Swope/AP hide caption toggle caption Ethan Swope/AP In surveillance footage obtained by NBC4 Los Angeles, the helicopter can be seen falling from the sky at a slight diagonal angle and landing behind some trees and other objects. Moments later, a large column of black smoke and flames rises from the crash site. Hundreds of people gathered in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday night for a candlelight vigil to honor the victims of both accidents. Friends and family brought photographs of their loved ones and joined in prayer. Accident victim liked to people-watch on the bus, daughter says Castillo’s daughter, Johaunna Castillo, said he was on his way home from his job at an auto parts store Tuesday, on the same bus he took every day. “The backrest was his favorite seat,” he said. “He liked to watch people.” Although he moved to Georgia with his mother and siblings as a teenager and now attends college there, he spent his school vacations and summers in Los Angeles with his father. When they were separated, he called her every day after work. “He would just tell me about all the people he met and all the things that happened on the bus,” she said. That day, he told her that he was going to take the bus and that he would call her when he got home. But the call never came. He said his father was a hard worker and a bright, lively person who touched anyone he interacted with. His co-workers, friends and even many people who only knew him in passing reached out to share “how much of a light he was,” she said. “That’s who he was and that’s how he should be remembered: someone who brought a lot of joy and love to people’s lives,” Johaunna Castillo said. Hundreds of people have donated to an online fundraiser for funeral expenses. Clues to helicopter crash may lie in streamed video There were no immediate details about what caused the helicopter to go down, but investigators said important clues could emerge from the final seconds of the video the crew streamed. An alarm could be heard inside the helicopter cabin when it lost altitude. National Transportation Safety Board investigator Fabian Salazar said Wednesday that the video is “probably the most important evidence we’ve uncovered so far.” Just after the beeping starts, a woman’s voice says “uh oh.” The helicopter quickly moves away from the accident site and begins to lose altitude. The woman says “Can’t you stop?” before the video stops as the helicopter approaches the ground. Aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said the alarm suggests a possible loss of engine power and a dangerous decrease in main rotor speed. He said the pilot appeared to be attempting an emergency maneuver to use the wind to force the rotor to spin again. The NTSB is also investigating the bus collision. Moreno and Marciniw worked for Angel City Air, a helicopter contractor, and provided aerial coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52. Moreno, a native of Orange County, joined Angel City Air in 2010, the same year she earned a degree in broadcast journalism and political science from Chapman University. He reported for several media outlets and began flying with Marciniw in 2023, NBC4 said. Marciniw grew up in Southern California and graduated from Burbank High School in 1974. There have been at least eight fatal crashes involving news helicopters in the U.S. since 2000, killing 16 people, according to a review of federal crash records and news accounts.
