Washington DC plane crash: Two airport workers arrested over 'leaking horror footage' of plane crashing to US Army helicopter

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) staffers are accused of making an unauthorised copy of records and are facing charges of computer trespass, the agency said Monday (2 February). The legal trouble is tied to the chilling video obtained by CNN last week that showed a new vantage point of the plane crash over the Potomac River, ABC News reported.

The collision between a Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines passenger jet killed all 67 people on both aircrafts on Wednesday 29 January. The exclusive videos gave a closer and clearer look at the air disaster, including one clip in which the chopper is darting from the left side of the screen as the American Airlines flight approached the airport.

A second short clip shows the Black Hawk, which was carrying three soldiers, and the Bombardier CRJ700 steaming toward each other before the two smash into each other and explode. Both videos were shot on cell phones, CNN reported.

Mohamed Lamine Mbengue, 21, of Rockville Maryland was charged and Jonathan Savoy, 45, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, was charged, the MWAA said in an email. Mbengue was booked into Arlington County Adult Detention Center and later released while Savoy was issued a summons by the magistrate and cut loose. The airport authority did not divulge further details.

Officials began pulling the wreckage of the doomed American Airline flight on Monday as most victims’ bodies have been recovered from the icy river. After parts from the plane are taken to shore, the Black Hawk chopper will then be recovered.