REPORTER DIES IN CRASH
ATLANTA — A small plane en route to Atlanta for the playoff game in the Peach Bowl between LSU and Oklahoma crashed into a post office parking lot in Louisiana shortly after takeoff Saturday, killing five people, including a well-known sports reporter who was the daughter-in-law of LSU offensive coordinator Steve Ensminger.
The two-engine Piper Cheyenne crashed in the city of Lafayette about a mile from the regional airport where the flight began, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said. Investigators from the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board were investigating.
The plane was an eightpassenger aircraft, said Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit. Six people were on board the plane, five of whom were killed, he said. The sixth, a 37-year-old man, was being treated at a hospital along with two people who were in the post office.
A person who was either in or near a car on the ground was also “impacted” by the crash and was being treated for injuries, Benoit said. He did not elaborate. A blackened car sat in the post office parking lot, which was carpeted with scattered tree limbs. Eyewitnesses told KLFY-TV that the plane hit a car as it fell.
Steven Ensminger Jr., son of the offensive coordinator for the Louisiana State University football team, said his wife, Carley McCord, was on board the flight and died when it crashed.
“I just don’t feel like this is real,” Ensminger Jr. said in an Instagram message.
Ensminger Jr. said he was unable to go to the game and was at work when the crash happened. He said his father, Steven Ensminger, called him just before the elder Ensminger got to the stadium. The coach had tears in his eyes when he appeared on the field at the start of the game Saturday afternoon, and LSU players embraced him with hugs.
“He’s the MVP right now,” LSU head coach Ed Orgeron said in an on-air halftime interview. LSU led, 49-14, at the half and won easily, 63-28.
The Lafayette Fire Department identified the other people who were killed as Ian E. Biggs, 51, the plane’s pilot; Robert Vaughn Crisp II, 59; Gretchen D. Vincent, 51; and Michael Walker Vincent, 15. The injured passenger, Stephen Wade Berzas, was in critical condition, said department spokesman Alton Trahan.