Murder Charged in Copters’ Crash : D.A. Files Against Anaheim Man; Investigators Seek Collision Cause

As federal investigators pieced together the details of a collision of police helicopters over Irvine that left three dead, a 19-year-old Anaheim man was charged Thursday with three counts of murder for his role in the tragedy.

The Orange County district attorney’s office filed three second-degree murder charges against Vincent William Acosta, who was being pursued in a high-speed chase when police helicopters from Newport Beach and Costa Mesa collided and crashed at 10:20 p.m. Tuesday. Police were chasing Acosta because they believed he was driving a stolen car.

Federal investigators said Thursday that the Newport Beach helicopter was flying level when the Costa Mesa aircraft--a larger and faster, turbine-powered model--ran into it from below and behind.

Two Costa Mesa police officers and a civilian observer were killed, while two Newport Beach police officers survived a crash-landing of their helicopter. The collision occurred about the time the Costa Mesa helicopter was turning over the chase to the Newport Beach craft.

Jim Wall, an investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, said Thursday that it may never be known if the Costa Mesa helicopter was rising when the collision occurred, but “according to the pilots of the (Newport Beach helicopter), they were in level flight.”

‘Up From the Back’

Wall said he had interviewed the two survivors and made preliminary inspections of the wreckage. There are still eyewitnesses to be interviewed, he said.

The Costa Mesa police helicopter “came up from the back of the Hughes 300 (Newport Beach police helicopter) and hit it from below,” Wall said. “We determined that the Hughes 300 had its landing gear taken off by the rotor blades” on the Costa Mesa helicopter.

Both helicopters’ engines were running at the time of the collision and both “these helicopters did have their searchlights on,” Wall said.

Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Tom Borris said Acosta’s conduct in the chase Tuesday night “was so reckless” that prosecutors will argue he acted with malice and thus is guilty of murder even though he did not intentionally kill anyone. Borris said Acosta’s actions had “set the stage” for the helicopter crash.

Acosta will plead innocent at his arraignment April 3, his attorney, Deputy Public Defender William Kelley, said.

Although unusual because two helicopters were involved, the case is similar legally to others in which murder convictions have been obtained because of the deaths of innocent bystanders during high-speed automobile chases, Borris said.

Acosta also was charged Thursday with auto theft and possession of stolen property. His bail was set at $500,000.

Kelley said the accident was the result of either pilot error or mechanical failure and should not be blamed on his client.

“It’s tragic,” Kelley said. “There is no question about that. But there is no way malice can be implied.”

Acosta made a brief appearance in a Santa Ana courtroom, where his mother, several of his nine brothers and sisters and at least 10 friends came to show their support.

Several of Acosta’s friends, who said they heard the sirens and the commotion and walked outside their homes to witness the arrest in Anaheim only blocks away from Acosta’s home, angrily accused police of using unnecessary force.

“They were grinding his head to the ground. He was screaming in agony,” said Stephanie Williams, 19.

Williams and others said they saw police handcuff Acosta and place him in a police car, only to take him out again, beat him, tie his wrists and legs and carry him off “like an animal.”

‘Leave Him Alone’

“We yelled, ‘Leave him alone,’ ” said Tina Parada, 15. “Then an officer said: ‘He killed three of our men--what are you going to do about it?’ ”

Kelley said his client “clearly was roughed up.” He has “a bad abrasion” on the upper right cheekbone, another one on the lower right cheekbone and swollen wrists. “I think he was struck by bricks in some fashion.”

Anaheim Police Chief Jimmie D. Kennedy said Acosta resisted arrest and officers had to use restraining cuffs on his hands and feet. “If there are allegations that there was excessive force used, we’ll certainly look into it,” he said.

Borris said he had not heard of the allegations. He also said the severity of the charges had nothing to do with the fact that police officers were killed.

“In our view, this is no different from prosecuting people who kill innocent people,” he said.

Killed in Tuesday’s helicopter crash were Costa Mesa police officers James David Ketchum, 39, and John William (Mike) Libolt, 39, and Jeffrey A. Pollard, 27, a civilian flight instructor from Tustin. The two Newport Beach police officers in the second helicopter were pilot Robert Oakley, 35, and Myles Elsing, 40, a pilot who was riding as observer.

In Stable Condition

Oakley was treated at a hospital and released, and Elsing was in stable condition Thursday at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana.

This was not Acosta’s first brush with the law. He has a juvenile record, according to Kennedy, and he was convicted last year of auto burglary and last month of selling cocaine. On Feb. 2, he was sentenced to three years’ probation and 90 days in jail on the cocaine charge. He was released to a community work program on Feb. 12.

“He’s frightened, very frightened,” Kelley said Thursday. “To go from potentially being charged with stealing a car to murder is a quantum leap. To say he is scared is an understatement.”

As Acosta entered an enclosed security area in the courtroom of Municipal Judge C. Robert Jameson Thursday, he glanced swiftly around the room, filled with friends and the media. His gaze stopped upon spotting his mother, Connie Verdin, who leaned forward in her seat and stared intently at her son, looking down only to wipe away tears.

Michelle Munoz, 19, the mother of Acosta’s 19-month-old daughter Christina, said her former boyfriend is “hurting” because of what happened. “He would never hurt anybody. Vince has a big heart,” said Munoz, who added that the high school dropout visits with their baby daughter at least three times a week.

Acosta’s friend, Williams, who saw the arrest, said Acosta reacted with shock and grief when police said three men had died. She said Acosta, speaking out loud to himself, muttered: “Vince, what did you do? What’s happening? No. No.”

Funeral Services Set

Costa Mesa Sgt. Jim Watson said funeral services for Ketchum and Libolt are scheduled for 2 p.m. Friday at Calvary Chapel in Santa Ana. It is open to the public, and about 1,000 people are expected to attend. The burial, however, will be private. Funeral services for Pollard are scheduled for Monday. He is survived by his wife, Becky, and their 21-month-old daughter, Christy.

The flying records of all the police officers involved were free of any blemish before Tuesday’s collision, according to Linda Whitfield, FAA public affairs spokeswoman in Oklahoma City.

“There were no previous incidents or accidents,” Whitfield said. “There’s nothing in the records to indicate any problems at all.”

The Costa Mesa helicopter also has a spotless performance record, according to FAA records.

But a May 2, 1985, “malfunction or defect report” on file with the Federal Aviation Administration in Oklahoma City shows that the Newport Beach helicopter experienced “rough engine and loss of power for several seconds” stemming from “number two and four cylinder valve and guide caked with carbon.”

The four-cylinder engine had “two cylinder valves . . . sticking,” and there was a “loss of power for several seconds,” according to Don Wilcoxson, FAA technical information systems manager. The report also indicated that the problem occurred about nine times during a span of 900 hours before the 1985 report, Wilcoxson said.

However, NTSB officials on Thursday stressed that their interviews and preliminary examination of the wreckage have turned up no evidence that the collision was caused by a mechanical failure of either aircraft.

“There is no physical evidence to indicate a mechanical problem at this time,” said Gary Mucho, chief of the NTSB’s Los Angeles office.