HOUSTON — Witnesses of a deadly helicopter crash just east of downtown Houston were still in disbelief nearly 24 hours after the incident.
The collision happened Sunday night just before 8 p.m. near the intersection of Navigation Boulevard and North Ennis Street. Houston police said the helicopter crashed into a radio tower and four people on board, including a child, died.
The crash site is near a residential area with several homes and apartments. Donald Mentis lives nearby and said he saw the moment of impact. Mentis said he was walking to the store to grab a couple of things when he saw the helicopter in the air.
"It was going kind of slow, and then it sped up," Mentis said.
That's when Mentis said he never expected to see what happened next.
"It hit the pole, and then the next thing you know, it just exploded, like, it evaporated,” Mentis said. “What was going through my head was like, ‘Yo, did anyone else see this? Did I just make this up?’ You know what I mean. We all had to basically kind of confirm with each other, like, ‘Hey, you just seen that, right?’ Unbelievable, man. It was crazy.”
Several KHOU 11 viewers sent in surveillance camera footage of the crash. Jay Marroquin, who also lives in the area, shared his backyard surveillance camera which shows a large flash of light once the helicopter goes down into the radio tower.
“There’s a loss of life, so that’s unfortunate,” Marroquin said. “Everything was blocked off. There was a ton of first responders.”
Marroquin said he's grateful there were no reports of anyone on the ground getting injured.
“It’s a busy community. It was a busy time. That whole area is hustling and bustling. This neighborhood is just popping so it could have been a lot more loss, so thankfully nothing else happened,” Marroquin said.
As the NTSB, FAA, Houston Police Department and Houston Fire Department continue their investigation into the cause of the crash, people who live nearby also want some answers as to what happened.
“I just don’t understand why and how. A lot of people have a lot of questions, and today we’re seeing a lot of helicopters flying around. And now I’m afraid, you know, just because you don’t know when something's going to happen, and just a reminder to you how precious life is. So, super sorry for the families involved and everyone involved and hope they get to the bottom of it,” resident Tory Ramirez said. “This is where we walk our dog. This is where our families live, so just super disturbing, and hopefully we can figure out why it happened, so it doesn’t happen again.”
Some residents who captured video of the crash told KHOU 11 that they provided their footage to the NTSB to help them with their investigation.