The driver who slammed into an LA bus before helicopter crash is charged with murder NPR Bailee Rios charged with 2nd degree murder, DUI, reckless driving in Metro bus crash in Chatsworth ABC7 Los Angeles Loved ones gath...
Savannah Sampson, right, and Nicole Lewis, help set up a vigil for the victims of Tuesday's fatal SUV-Metro bus collision and the subsequent crash of a TV news helicopter that was covering it in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles, Thursday, Sept. 17, 2026.
LOS ANGELES - An SUV driver was under the influence of drugs when she swerved into the wrong lane, blew a red light and slammed into a Los Angeles city bus, killing two riders, prosecutors said Thursday as they charged her with murder.
It was a tragedy compounded by the subsequent fatal crash of a TV news helicopter that had been covering the collision.
Bailee Lynn Rios was speeding and impaired when she drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy avenue and struck a vehicle before plowing into a city bus on Tuesday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told a news conference.
Rios, 36, faces two charges of second-degree murder in the deaths of the two people on the bus, identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31.
Rios was being held on $4.1 million bail and is scheduled to appear in court Friday. Online court records did not list a lawyer who might speak on her behalf, and the public defender's office said it had not been appointed to represent her.
Reached Wednesday, her mother Cindy Rios said she was shocked and saddened by the string of events. She said she had not spoken to Bailee Lynn Rios since her arrest and had not been contacted by law enforcement. She could not immediately be reached Thursday for additional comment.
The news helicopter crash killed both people on board, pilot George Marciniw and reporter Eliana Moreno, and a man on the ground, Edy Gutierrez Mejia. At least four cars and two storage containers burned after the helicopter caught fire.
In this aerial view, people investigate the aftermath of a news helicopter crash in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2026.
In surveillance footage obtained by NBC4 Los Angeles, the helicopter can be seen dropping out of the sky on a slight diagonal angle and landing behind a few trees and other objects. Moments later, a large plume of black smoke and flames erupt from the crash site.
Hundreds gathered in the Chatsworth neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday evening for a candlelit vigil honoring the victims of both crashes. Friends and family members brought photos of their loved ones and joined in prayer.
Castillo's daughter, Johaunna Castillo, said he was on the way home from his job at a car parts warehouse Tuesday, on the same bus he took every day.
"The back was his favorite seat," she said. "He liked people-watching."
While she moved to Georgia with her mother and siblings as a teen and now attends college there, she spent her school breaks and summers in LA with her father. When they were apart, he called her after work every single day.
"He would just tell me about all the people he's met and all the things that happened on the bus," she said.
Reporting synthesized and verified under Nexvoro.tech editorial guidelines. Full primary records referenced via Google News US Nation & Law.
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