LOS ANGELES — The woman accused of ramming into a Los Angeles city bus Tuesday has been charged with second-degree murder in the deadly crash, officials announced Thursday.
Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was arrested Wednesday in connection with the crash, which killed two passengers. While it was covering the tragedy, a news helicopter crashed nearby, killing the reporter and the pilot on board and a pedestrian on the ground.
“What is particularly tragic about this case is that this is a preventable tragedy,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman told reporters.
In addition to the two counts of second-degree murder, Rios has also been charged with driving under the influence of a drug and reckless driving, according to a complaint.
“She will be looking at a maximum sentence of life in prison,” Hochman said.
It was not immediately clear whether Rios had an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
According to police, Rios drove her 2004 Ford Expedition the wrong way down a busy street, ran a red light and hit a car before she slammed into the bus. She was rescued by first responders and taken to a local hospital.
Investigators found drugs in Rios’ car following the wreck, and prosecutors suspect she was driving under the influence, Hochman said.
“She was driving well beyond the speed limit, she entered into opposing traffic because she was approaching a red light where cars were stopped, and she didn’t stop,” he said.
One passenger was fully ejected from the bus and another was partially ejected, police said. Video from the scene in Chatsworth, a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, showed Rios’ SUV partially wedged into the middle of the bus.
The passengers killed in the bus were identified Thursday as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31.
In a helicopter high above, reporter Eliana Moreno described the crash as “horrific” on live television.
“This is terrifying,” she said in what would become one of her final broadcasts.
Moreno and pilot George Marciniw were killed when the chopper, providing coverage for NBC Los Angeles and Telemundo 52, suddenly lost altitude and plummeted toward two storage containers.
A person on the ground, Edy Gutierrez Mejia, also died.
NewsChopper 4 was owned and operated by Angel City Air.
The deaths left Chatsworth and the greater Los Angeles community in shock and mourning. Rios’ loved ones said they never could have imagined she would be involved in something so horrific.
“It’s so awful,” her mother, Cindy Rios, told NBC News in a brief phone call Thursday.
Rios’ longtime friend Brad Aragon told the California Post that Rios had struggled with addiction in the past and went to rehab at least once. He confirmed the Post’s reporting to NBC News.
On social media, Rios occasionally posted about being in recovery and battling addictions. Friends left encouraging words and offered help if she needed it.
Hours before the crash, Aragon and Rios had texted each other about planning a visit in October. She seemed shaken by recent events in her life and said she was hanging around with people she knew were toxic, Aragon told the Post.
According to court records, Rios was convicted in 2022 of driving with a suspended license. Previous charges of driving under the influence, drug possession and carrying drug paraphernalia were dismissed.
Hochman said his office is still examining her criminal record. Rios is expected to be arraigned Friday, he said.
She was being held on $4 million bail Thursday.
Weida, one of the men killed in the bus crash, was days away from his parents coming to visit Saturday to celebrate his birthday, Hochman said.
Castillo was a loving father, his daughter, college sophomore Johaunna Castillo, told NBC Los Angeles.
“There’s so many people that cared about him, and every single person drove down to the accident that day, so they could all be with each other,” she told the station. Her father was looking forward to seeing her graduate, she said.
Asked whether the three helicopter-related deaths would be rolled into Rios’ case, Hochman declined to speculate.
“We’ll wait to see what the investigation reveals, and then we’ll make the call at that time,” he said.
