Police officers injured when helicopter crashes in metro-Atlanta

Two Gwinnett County Police officers were taken to the hospital after their helicopter unit — “Air One” — crashed at Briscoe Field in Lawrenceville on Friday.

“Both of our officers were conscious, alert,” said Cpl. Michele Pihera. “They were talking. Their family members have been notified of what had happened.”

Pihera said the department wasn’t ready to release the names of either pilot, yet.

Gwinnett fire and police received calls about the crash just before 11 a.m.

The officers had been using one of the department’s two helicopters to assist ground officers chase a wanted suspect earlier in the morning. While they were in the air, the pilots began to notice a shift in the weather.

“As you know, it’s windy here today and a storm was coming in,” Pihera said from the scene. “So they notified the ground officers that they needed to go back to the hangar.”

They didn’t quite make it. The helicopter went down just 200 yards from the police department’s hangar at Gwinnett County Airport at Briscoe Field, a municipal airport owned and operated by Gwinnett County. The airport has been closed since 11 a.m. and the Federal Aviation Administration came on the scene just after noon to investigate.

It wasn’t an ideal situation, but Pihera said she’s thankful it wasn’t worse.

“We are thankful that they crashed here and not over a neighborhood or a school or (Georgia Highway) 316,” she said.

One of the officers was able to climb out of the wreckage immediately. The other had his legs pinned inside helicopter. Gwinnett County Fire Department personnel helped him escape. Both were taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

“We’re just so happy that they survived these injuries and at this time it does not look like their injuries will be life-threatening,” Pihera said.