Authorities arrested two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority employees, accusing them of leaking footage of the tragic mid-air collision between a military helicopter and an American Airlines jet at Reagan National Airport.
“That video was leaked to CNN by two members of staff at the airport,” Daily Mail noted.
#BREAKING: Two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority employees have been arrested for leaking video of the tragic Washington, D.C. aircraft collision which claimed 67 lives to CNN. pic.twitter.com/9P6G5piGyx
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) February 3, 2025
FOX 5 DC reports:
Mohamed Lamine Mbengue, 21, of Rockville, Maryland, was arrested on Jan. 31 and charged with computer trespass under Virginia law. He was booked into the Arlington County Adult Detention Center and later released, according to an MWAA spokesperson.
Following further investigation, authorities also charged Jonathan Savoy, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, with computer trespass on Feb. 2. Savoy was released on a summons by a magistrate.
Both men are accused of making an unauthorized copy of Airports Authority records, though officials did not specify how the footage was obtained or distributed.
The leaked video, which aired on a TV news station according to reports, captured the moment a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter collided midair with an American Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 jet during a nighttime training mission.
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NEW: Two airport employees arrested for leaking the video footage of the D.C. collision last week to CNN.
67 people are deceased because people didn’t do their jobs right and they’re arresting people who shared a video?
Two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority… pic.twitter.com/1fzSpuPimC
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 4, 2025
BREAKING: Two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority employees have been arrested over LEAKED video of DC crash to CNN. https://t.co/PbCH5EP4oP
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 3, 2025
Per Daily Mail:
Washington DC’s airspace is notoriously congested and there have been mounting fears that a tragedy was on the horizon.
Former House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Peter DeFazio told Politico that lawmakers had ignored warnings in favor of adding more routes to make travel more convenient for them.
‘Every senator in particular wants a nonstop flight to and from wherever they live,’ he said.
‘The airport said, ”Don’t do it.” And they did it. So they added to what DCA said is already an overly congested and over-capacity airport.’
Since 2000, an additional 60 flights have been added into the airport.
Disturbing footage of Wednesday night’s crash raised questions about how it possibly could have occurred, given it was a relatively clear night and the plane was visible in the path of the helicopter.
The National Transportation Safety Board revealed that preliminary data showed conflicting readings about their altitudes at the time of the catastrophic collision.
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