DevelopingCrisisTimeline
2026 L.A. Metro Bus Crash
Updated 3 updatessince 41 outlets
The Chatsworth Metro bus crash saga involves a series of tragic incidents, including a helicopter crash and a bus collision resulting in fatalities and injuries. The situation continues to develop as investigations proceed.
Timeline
Now
Bailee Lynn Rios was hospitalized after her SUV collided with a Metro bus, resulting in two fatalities and multiple injuries. Video footage showed her dazed following the crash, and she remained under medical care, missing her scheduled court appearance.
19 sources · ABC News, Los Angeles Times
Covered by 7 outlets
18 sources · NPR, Los Angeles Times
Edy Gutierrez Mejia, a 29-year-old man from Cuilapa, Guatemala, was identified as the third victim of the helicopter crash that occurred on September 15 in Chatsworth.
17 sources · NBC Southern California, Hindustan Times
- Origin Sep 15, 2026
The story so far
As of September 18, 2026
A wrong-way, high-speed strike by a Ford Expedition into a Metro bus at Nordhoff Street and De Soto Avenue in Chatsworth killed two riders and injured several others. Prosecutors have charged the driver, 36-year-old Bailee Lynn Rios of Simi Valley, with two counts of second-degree murder, driving under the influence causing injury, and reckless driving. She remains in custody on $4.03 million bail but is hospitalized from her injuries and missed her first court appearance.
The evidence anchoring the case is visual and physical. Security video shows the SUV traveling south in the northbound lanes, running the red light and broadsiding the bus so forcefully that the vehicle ended up partly inside it. Cellphone video captured moments later shows Rios bloodied and dazed in the driver’s seat. Investigators recovered suspected methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia from the SUV, and the charges say she was impaired at the time.
The collision drew live news coverage, and a TV helicopter filming the intersection crashed nearby later that evening, killing pilot George Marciniw, reporter Eliana Moreno, and 29-year-old Edy Gutierrez Mejia on the ground. Those deaths are the subject of a federal air-safety investigation. Rios has not been charged in connection with the helicopter crash; any decision on that is expected after investigators explain why the aircraft fell.
What this has become is a test of how far criminal responsibility reaches and where the law draws the line between extreme recklessness and murder on city streets. The bus victims were identified as Daniel Castillo, 46, and Gage Weida, 31; two passengers were ejected and several others were hospitalized. The new videos tighten the account of what happened in the intersection, while the unresolved question is whether the chain of events will extend legally beyond the bus crash to the helicopter fatalities.
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