NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.—“We’re having some mechanical issues right now,” Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella, 44, broadcasted over police radio from helicopter HB-1, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
“We’re going down, we’re going down,” he said.
Seconds after the helicopter’s final transmission, Vella and his pilot crashed into the waters of Newport Harbor in a hard, downward right rotation which would inevitably be fatal for Officer Vella but leave the pilot in need of rescue on the night of Feb. 19.
A growing memorial of flowers for the passing of Huntington Beach Police Officer Nicholas Vella is displayed near the Huntington Beach Police station in Huntington Beach, Calif., on Feb. 22, 2022. (John Fredricks/The Epoch Times)
Andrew Belvin, a seasonal lifeguard with the City of Newport Beach, happened to be on a nearby dock when he saw the helicopter go down….