FAA releases preliminary cause of BRPD chopper crash

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Investigators say the Baton Rouge Police Department helicopter that crashed Sunday, March 26, near Port Allen, La. went down after its tail rotor struck a tree.

The preliminary crash report was released Monday morning by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

The FAA report states the “aircraft tail rotor struck a tree and crashed inverted in a field.”

The investigation into the crash continues and the FAA will determine if the aircraft had any mechanical or other issues that contributed to the crash.

Both police pilots on board were killed.

The Baton Rouge Police Department identified the victims as Cpl. Scotty Canezaro and Sgt. David Poirrier on Monday afternoon, March 27.

RELATED: BRPD identifies officers killed in chopper crash

The helicopter crashed around 3 a.m. Sunday, March 26 but the wreckage was not discovered until many hours later.

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