According to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, Deodat Persaud Gangapersaud, 73, a passenger inside of a pickup truck driven by his son, was killed by a rotor blade after a helicopter underwent engine failure and crashed into a road on Thursday in Florida.
Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said a piece of the helicopter's rotor blades broke off and flew across the street, striking a Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck that was headed north on 50th Street near Palm River Road, killing a passenger.
The car was driven by his son, Ryan Persaud, 36. The pilot of the plane was identified as Bryant Messick, 39, and the co-pilot as Joshua Wells, 22.
from WFLA.com:
"These are two highly-trained pilots. From what we're told, the helicopter had went in for service, they tested everything, made sure everything was functioning properly, conducted all of their checklist of their flight plan and were on their way back to Sarasota when, unfortunately [they] experienced that catastrophic engine failure," said Sheriff Chronister.