Two officers die when helicopter clips power lines and crashes on Tennessee mountain
_fitted.png "Two law enforcement officers died when their helicopter hit power lines near a Tennessee interstate and crashed into the woods of Aetna Mountain.")
Two law enforcement officers died after their helicopter crashed near an interstate in Tennessee, according to state authorities.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation told WVLT News that the Bell 206 helicopter hit power lines on Interstate 24 near mile marker 163 around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 23. The chopper then crashed into the woods of Aetna Mountain in Whiteside, a town near the Tennessee-Georgia border about 15 miles west of Chattanooga.
Both officers on board the aircraft were killed.
“Our hearts are filled with sadness,” said Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP) Colonel Matt Perry in a statement. “These men are heroes, and we will never forget them.”
Lee Russell, a pilot THP sergeant, and Matt Blansett, a detective with the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, had been on an aerial mission near Chattanooga when they crashed, officials said in a statement.
“It kind of dipped a little bit and waggled a little bit then there was a bright flash of light and puff of smoke and it hit one of the power lines that went across the highway and sure enough the power lines started gliding down toward me,” Dan Hostetler, who said he witnessed the crash, told WVLT. “I slammed on the brakes and stopped about two car lengths from the line.”
An investigation into the crash is ongoing, officials said.
“Both men were passionate about their jobs,” said Jeff Long, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, in the statement. “This is a tremendous loss for the Tennessee law enforcement community.”
This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Two officers die when helicopter clips power lines and crashes on Tennessee mountain."
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