Plane crash kills 5, including relative of LSU assistant coach
A sports reporter who was the daughter-in-law of a Louisiana State University football coach died Saturday morning with four other people after a small plane crashed in the parking lot of a post office in Lafayette, Louisiana, hours before kickoff in a playoff game, authorities said.
The reporter, Carley Anne McCord, 30, who was married to the son of LSU’s offensive coordinator, was among the victims, officials said. The plane was headed to Atlanta, where top-ranked
LSU was scheduled to play Oklahoma in the Peach
Bowl in the afternoon, with a spot in the national championship game at stake.
Alton Trahan, a spokesman for the Lafayette Fire Department, said it appeared all of the passengers were headed to Atlanta for the game.
Michael Bonnette, a spokesman for the LSU football team, said McCord’s father-in-law, Steve Ensminger, would still coach in the game. Ensminger, clad in a purple and gold windbreaker, walked on to the field about 45 minutes before kickoff, his face tight as he stood alone and watched his team’s warm-up drills.
Chief Robert P. Benoit of the Lafayette Fire Department said just one of the six people on board the plane had survived the crash. That person was taken to a hospital in critical condition. Three other people on the ground were taken to hospitals.
A spokeswoman for the city identified the others killed as Ian E. Biggs, 51, who was the pilot; Robert Vaughn Crisp II, 59; Gretchen D. Vincent, 51; and Michael Walker Vincent, 15.
Stephen Wade Berzas, 37, was identified as the passenger who survived.
McCord covered several sports as a freelance reporter for Cox Sports Television, ESPN3 and WDSU, a local television station, according to her website.
Joel Vilmenay, president and general manager of WDSU, said the station was devastated by her death.
“Carley’s passion for sports journalism and her deep knowledge of Louisiana sports, from high school to the professional ranks, made her an exceptional journalist,” he said in a statement.
The plane struck a car in the parking lot when it crashed shortly before 9:30 a.m., engulfing the car in flames and injuring someone inside, Trahan said. The three people on the ground who were hurt included that person and two postal workers, he said.
One woman on the ground was taken to Lafayette General Medical Center in critical condition, a hospital spokeswoman said, and then transferred to the University Medical Center New Orleans.
Another patient, also in critical condition, was taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette, according to a hospital spokeswoman. Information on the other two patients was not immediately available.
The plane, a two-engine Piper Cheyenne, which can hold up to eight passengers, crashed a mile west of Lafayette Regional Airport, where it had taken off, said
Tony Molinaro, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. He said investigators did not yet know what caused the crash.
Videos and photographs from the scene showed chunks of metal in a field next to the post office and flames billowing near mail trucks.
An exterior wall of the brick post office was left blackened, and nearby residents said their lights had gone out after they heard the crash.
Lois Comeaux was at a Walmart near the post office when she heard a “big boom” and the store went dark. Comeaux, who lives about 300 feet from where the plane crashed, said she could see pieces of the plane behind the post office, and that some of the post office’s windows had been blown out by the force of the crash.
“There’s a big vacant lot, and there are three big pieces of plane,” she said.
Emergency vehicles had swarmed the area and firefighters put out small fires.
Rebecca Simon said she had just pulled into her garage, less than a mile from the site of the crash, when she heard a plane fly unusually low over her house.
“Right after, there was a really loud noise that shook the garage door, and the electricity blinked, then went out,” she said.