Police 'tried to smash windscreen' after fatal helicopter crash involving Leicester City owner
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The inquest into the deaths of five people in a helicopter crash outside Leicester City's stadium has heard police officers tried to break the aircraft's windscreen after it crashed. Police officers in a patrol car spotted the helicopter, on its way from the King Power Stadium to London Stansted Airport, as it dropped.
A police sergeant, who was on the scene within seconds, tried to smash the windscreen with a baton to get into the cockpit, but the coroner was told it was a "very strong structure" designed to withstand a bird strike at a speed of 180mph (290kph). Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) principal inspector Mark Jarvis said: "You would need specialist equipment to get through the windscreen.".
Stills from a police bodycam and dashcam were also shown at the inquest, capturing the helicopter on fire and showing an officer returning to his vehicle to collect an extinguisher. Leicester's owner, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, died in the 2018 crash, along with two of his staff, Nursara Suknamai and Kaveporn Punpare, pilot Eric Swaffer, and Mr Swaffer's girlfriend Izabela Roza Lechowicz, a fellow pilot.
As the inquest opened at Leicester City Hall on Monday, the jury heard pen portraits of the victims, with Mr Srivaddhanaprabha described by his family as a "caring and devoted husband, father, uncle and grandfather". In a tribute read to the court by family barrister Philip Shepherd KC, the relatives called him "a great inspiration to us all and we all loved him very much.
