Bystander recounts jumping in to help after medical helicopter crashes on Highway 50 in Sacramento
By Lindsay Weber
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KCRA) — A medical helicopter crash critically injured three crew members and stopped traffic on Highway 50 in Sacramento on Monday night.
Multiple witnesses watched as the helicopter came crashing down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50 near Stockton Boulevard just after 7 p.m.
“It was violently shaking,” said Chad Montgomery.
Montgomery was stuck in traffic on Highway 50 with his wife when they saw the crashing helicopter getting closer.
“The landing gear under the helicopter itself was just shaking, like rattling in the air,” Montgomery said. “So I knew something was off as it was approaching very low. I was screaming to my wife, I go, ‘This thing’s coming down.'”
Montgomery said just after the aircraft came down, smoke immediately poured out.
“It took quite a while for that engine to like, wind down or eventually just shut off. But in those two to three minutes, it was—there was a lot of smoke that was entering Highway 50,” he said.
The model of the helicopter that crashed was an H130, which is designed to prevent post-crash fires by containing the fuel. Learn more about the helicopter here.
Some of those who witnessed the crash also became rescuers.
“It just plummeted out of the sky,” said Aimee Braddock, another witness. “It hit hard.”
Braddock joined around a dozen others who rushed in to help lift the helicopter off a trapped crew member.
“As soon as I saw that everybody was moving to try to push the helicopter out to help the first responders get to the passenger, I just ran over and got in the line of people and was just pushing it as much as I could,” Braddock recounted. “Then we held it for several minutes, so the first responder could get the person out.”
Crews later moved construction barriers so the drivers stuck on Highway 50 after the crash could move.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty shared a post on X thanking the first responders and civilians who jumped in to help.
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