Two airport employees were arrested after they allegedly leaked video of last week’s tragic mid-air collision between an American Airlines jet and an army helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in D.C.
The two Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) employees were charged in connection with making an unauthorized copy of airports authority records, MWAA spokesperson Rob Yingling said in a statement on Tuesday.
Mohamed Lamine Mbengue, 21, of Rockville, Md., was arrested and charged with computer trespass on Jan. 31, one day after the crash over the Potomac River. He was booked into Arlington County Adult Detention Center and released on his own recognizance, according to Yingling.
Mohamed Lamine Mbengue, 21, of Rockville, Md.
Arlington County Sheriff’s Office
On Feb. 2, Jonathan Savoy, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Md., was also arrested on a charge of computer trespass. Yingling said Savoy was released on a summons by a magistrate judge assigned to the case. (Currently, there is no mugshot of Savoy available.)
The leaked video, which aired on CNN according to reports, captured the moment the U.S. army Black Hawk helicopter collided mid-air with an American Airlines regional passenger jet, resulting in 67 fatalities, including three army soldiers aboard the helicopter.
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Airport authority officials did not specify how Mbengue and Savoy obtained or distributed the exclusive footage.
According to Arlington County General District Court records, Mbengue was set to be arraigned on the charge Monday but the hearing was continued. A future arraignment date has not been set.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Monday that it has completed interviews with air traffic controllers in its investigation into the collision.
On Tuesday, the salvage team recovered part of the fuselage and right engine of the Bombardier CRJ-700 passenger jet. It will retrieve the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk after the airplane has been recovered.
The NTSB said it has obtained training and flight logs for both flight crews and maintenance records for both aircraft and is building histories for both flight crews.
Officials announced in a statement on Tuesday that the remains of all 67 victims had been recovered. All but one have been identified.
Fourteen members of the figure skating community were among the 60 travellers and four crew members on board the commercial flight late on Jan. 29. An Ohio college student coming from her grandfather’s funeral, two Chinese nationals and a group of hunters returning from a guided trip in Kansas were also among those who died in the mid-air collision at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
Wreckage from the collision is being moved to Hangar 7 at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. Much of the Potomac River remains restricted to authorized vessels. Two of the lesser-used runways at the airport remain closed.
—With files from Reuters and The Associated Press
