The driver accused of crashing her Ford SUV into a Los Angeles Metro bus was a convicted offender who prosecutors say was under the influence of drugs at the time.
Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was charged with murder Wednesday morning and held on $4.03 million bail.
Rios also faces charges of driving under the influence and reckless driving. Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said she was impaired, while narcotics were discovered inside her vehicle.
Rios, who has one child, was previously convicted in Ventura County of drug possession and driving with a suspended license, according to records obtained by KTLA.
“What is particularly tragic about this case is that this is a preventable tragedy,” Hochman said at a news conference Thursday.
“Ms. Rios did not have to get behind the wheel impaired,” he said. “She did not have to drive on the wrong side of the road. She did not have to run a red light at full speed and send her SUV crashing into a Metro bus. All of that was preventable.”
“She chose to do what she did, and that choice has caused deadly and destructive consequences,” Hochman added.
Gage Weida, 31, and Daniel Castillo, 46, were killed in the Los Angeles Metro bus crash at about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
About two hours later, an NBC helicopter that had arrived to record images of the wreckage crashed in a nearby parking lot and burst into flames.
Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw, 70, died in the helicopter crash, as did Edy Gutierrez Mejia, 29, a Guatemalan tourist who was on the ground.
Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was charged with murder Wednesday morning in connection with the deadly Los Angeles bus crash and held on $4.03 million bail
Rios is accused of driving her vehicle into the Metro bus at about 5 p.m. Wednesday, killing two people aboard
The crash scene shows the car lodged in the side of the bus
Police said Rios drove her Ford Expedition the wrong way along De Soto Avenue at a speed “well beyond the speed limit” before running a red light and striking the bus.
Video of the collision shows the force of the impact sending the bus into a utility pole, ejecting one passenger and partially ejecting another.
Six other people were injured in addition to Weida and Castillo.
A Metro spokesperson also confirmed to KTLA that Rios was hurt in the collision. She was treated at a local hospital before being taken into custody.
Rios could face life in prison if convicted and is scheduled to appear in court Friday.
The Los Angeles Police Department is continuing to investigate the fatal bus crash, while the National Transportation Safety Board is examining the helicopter crash.
NewsChopper4 was flying between two warehouses near the intersection of Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue at about 7 p.m. Tuesday night when Moreno was filming the bus wreck below.
Gage Weida, 31, and Daniel Castillo, 46, died in the metro bus crash
Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw, 70, were on board an NBC 4 Los Angeles helicopter when it went down while covering the fatal bus collision
The shocking footage shows an aerial view of the bus crash and the wrecked SUV that T-boned the city bus as the whirl of the helicopter could be heard in the background.
Suddenly, the sound of the engine’s motor winds down and a horn blares – possibly warning the pilot that the main rotor speed had dropped too low.
At that point, Moreno could be heard quietly saying ‘Uh oh.’
As the angle of the camera then begins to descend and shake, the reporter could be heard asking Marciniw: ‘You can’t pull up?’
The video is now at the center of the NTSB’s investigation as authorities work to piece together what may have caused the Eurocopter AS350B2 to go down, Investigator in Charge Fabian Salazar said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.
‘The video that was actually taken while the reporter was doing live coverage, that video is probably the most important evidence that we have discovered so far,’ he declared, adding that the agency will work toward obtaining a ‘pristine copy’ of the recording and send it to the agency’s lab for a sound spectrum analysis.
‘In that recording, we are clearly hearing sounds that are consistent with the engine changing its speed and we’re also hearing tones that are being generated that are likely advisories to the pilot, so it’s important that we get that recording to our lab, so that they can be downloaded and we can get to that factual evidence that way.’
The NBC 4 Los Angeles helicopter plummeted to the ground as Moreno was capturing aerial footage of the bus crash
Investigators will also gather as much data from the wreckage site as possible, Salazar said, as he urged anyone with information about the crash to reach out to the agency.
Once that portion of the investigation is complete, the helicopter will be moved to a secure facility so the agency could continue its examination and try to pull additional data from the wreckage.
The chopper’s maintenance logbooks and the weather will also be part of the investigation, and authorities will work to obtain surveillance footage from buildings near the crash scene to get a full picture of the sequence of events.
A preliminary report is expected to be completed in 30 days, but a final report listing probable cause can take up to 18 months to complete.
