NTSB says no evidence VSP police helicopter was struck by animal, object

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA. - A new report says there's no sign a Virginia State Police helicopter that crashed after monitoring violent clashes in Charlottesville last month was struck by another aircraft, animal or object.

The crash killed two men with East Tennessee ties. The pilot, Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, was the son of Loudon County Commissioner, Henry Cullen. Trooper Berke Bates went to the University of Tennessee and still has family living in Knoxville.
  
The National Transportation Safety Board issued a preliminary report Tuesday into the Aug. 12 crash that killed two state troopers, the pilot and an observer. The report said the helicopter went into a nose-down spin prior to the crash.
  
The helicopter was providing a video feed of a violent white nationalist rally when it broke off to watch over Gov. Terry McAuliffe's motorcade. It crashed on the outskirts of Charlottesville, leaving a debris field several hundred feet long.
  
The report does not say what likely caused the crashed and the NTSB's investigation is ongoing.

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9/6/17