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Assault charges filed in helicopter crash chase

A man accused of leading police on the car chase during which two news helicopters collided has been charged with unlawful flight, two counts of assaulting a police officer and two counts of auto theft.
/ Source: The Associated Press

A man accused of leading police on the car chase during which two news helicopters collided has been charged with unlawful flight, two counts of assaulting a police officer and two counts of auto theft.

But Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas says 23-year-old Christopher Jones has not been charged with last week's deaths of the four newsmen who were on the choppers when they went down.

Thomas says further investigation will be needed to determine if additional charges can be brought against Jones.

But the charges that were filed could lead to a prison sentence of 127 years in prison.

Police say Jones led them on a chase Friday in a work truck that he had stolen.

The collision killed 42-year-old pilot Scott Bowerbank and 37-year-old photographer Jim Cox of KTVK and 46-year-old pilot Craig Smith and 55-year-old photojournalist Rick Krolak of KNXV. No one on the ground was hurt.