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See How the LaGuardia Plane Crash Unfolded

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See How the LaGuardia Plane Crash Unfolded

An Air Canada jet collided with a fire truck at LaGuardia Airport in Queens on Sunday night, killing two people and injuring dozens. The fire truck was responding to an unrelated incident when the crash happened.

Audio from air traffic control, flight data and imagery of the aftermath provide clues as to how the collision unfolded.

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Before the crash

Aerial image by Nearmap The New York Times

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After multiple attempts at takeoff and reporting an issue with an odor, a United Airlines plane on the east side of the airport requested assistance. A Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting truck responded and began traveling across the airport toward the United plane.

At the same time, around 11:36 p.m. an Air Canada Express Flight 8646 approached Runway 4 at about 150 miles per hour, according to flight data.

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Fire truck cleared to cross runway

Aerial image by Nearmap The New York Times

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About 30 seconds before the collision, which was around 11:37 p.m., the fire truck requested permission from air traffic control to cross Runway 4 at crossing “D.” An air traffic controller promptly granted access, responding “Truck 1 and company, cross 4 at delta.”

Ten seconds after granting permission and about 10 seconds before the collision, the same controller is heard saying, “Stop, stop, stop, stop, Truck 1, stop, stop, stop.”

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Flight data shows that the Air Canada plane touched down on the runway about 15 seconds before the collision with the fire truck.

About 10 seconds before the crash, the controller said, “Stop, Truck 1, stop!”

In the six seconds between when the controller told Truck 1 to stop the first time and the second time, the United flight covered approximately 1,000 feet, traveling about 200 feet per second, or 130 miles per hour, according to analysis of the flight data.

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Moment of crash

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Two seconds before collision

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One second before collision

Video: @305topgun, via X The New York Times

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Surveillance footage reviewed by The New York Times shows the Air Canada flight traveling down the runway and approaching the intersection where the fire truck had requested permission to cross. As the fire truck made a left turn onto Runway 4, the plane collided into the back half of the truck around 11:37 p.m.

Before the crash, one passenger, Rebecca Liquori, 35, said that there was turbulence as the flight prepared to land and that a flight attendant gave a warning about what to do in case of a possible emergency landing.

Using the length of the plane as a reference scale, The Times estimated the speed of the plane in the video footage to be about 110 miles per hour right before impact.

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Aerial image by Nearmap The New York Times

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After the crash, the plane traveled about an additional 600 feet down the runway before coming to a stop off to the side of the runway. The fire truck was knocked onto its side and also slid down the runway before coming to a halt on a grassy median.

The diagram below shows what a Bombardier CRJ-900 jet looks like compared with a typical airport fire truck.

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Note: Truck dimensions are based on a typical airport fire truck. The New York Times

Aftermath

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Images and video of the aftermath show that a large portion of the front of the airplane, including most of its cockpit, was torn off or crushed by the impact. Both the pilots died in the collision. A flight attendant, Solange Tremblay, was ejected from the plane while still strapped into her seat, sustaining a fractured leg.

Photos: Dakota Santiago for the New York Times

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

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Trump fires last members of election commission, inciting fears of midterm ‘chaos’

Donald Trump has terminated the remaining members of the independent, federal commission that assists election administration officials nationwide just a few months before the midterm elections, multiple outlets reported Thursday.

The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan commission ⁠were forced out on Thursday in different ways. The one Republican appointee resigned and the other ⁠two, Democratic appointees were notified of their terminations via email from ​the White House presidential personnel office.

“On ‌behalf of President ‌Donald J Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position ‌as Commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission is terminated, effective immediately. Thank you for your service,” the email, seen by Reuters, said.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Election Assistance Commission serves as a “national clearinghouse of information on election ‌administration”, accredits testing laboratories and certifies voting systems, and maintains the national mail-voter registration form developed by the National ​Voter Registration Act of 1993, according to the commission’s website. The terminations follow Trump and top administration officials’ advocacy to change vote-by-mail requirements and investigations into the 2020 election outcome, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

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“It is ⁠irresponsible and dangerous that this Administration remains dead set on ​causing chaos for ​our election officials across this ​country,” Arizona secretary of state Adrian Fontes said in a ​Thursday statement. “This ‌move undermines the integrity ​of nonpartisan ​election administration.”

The 2002 law that established the commission, the Help America Vote Act, states the president can appoint replacements to the commission.

It is unclear how Trump will move ahead with the commission.

Reuters contributed reporting

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

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Former Olympian pleads not guilty in reflecting pool vandalism charges

Former U.S. Olympian David Hearn (left) walks with his attorney Norman Eisen to speak to reporters and protesters gathered after his arraignment at the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

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Finn Gomez/Getty Images

Former U.S. Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty to damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in D.C. Superior Court Thursday morning.

Federal prosecutors charged Hearn with a single count of destruction of property causing more than $1,000 in damage to the pool.

Hearn has previously claimed, which his attorneys repeated during a short press conference outside the court, that he simply touched the water in the pool out of curiosity.

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The Trump administration had just completed a $14 million renovation of the pool.

But shortly after the work finished, peeling paint and algae gathered in the water. The remodel has been largely criticized as a massive failure and waste of taxpayer dollars.

Superior Court Judge Carmen McLean released Hearn on his own recognizance. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Norm Eisen, one of Hearn’s attorneys, spoke to reporters outside of court following the hearing. He said the administration is using Hearn as a “scapegoat … for their own failures.”

“It is not a crime to touch the reflecting pool, to touch water in the United States of America,” he said.

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Prosecutors say there is a host of evidence against Hearn.

This is a developing story.

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

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Three more people charged with damaging Reflecting Pool after Trump’s multimillion-dollar restoration | CNN Politics

Three more people have been criminally charged with destruction of property at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Officers say they detained Cameron Thiers, Sophie Dennison-Gibby and Justin Carreno one Saturday afternoon in June and described in court documents witnessing them peeling and removing pieces of blue paint from the Reflecting Pool.

One officer “witnessed Carreno reach down into the reflecting pool and pull up a piece of the blue paint,” according to the court documents.

The officer who detained Dennison-Gibby “found 1 additional piece of the reflecting pool liner” in her purse, the documents said.

All three incidents were recorded on the officers’ body worn cameras, they said in the court documents.

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Several “partnering law enforcement agencies assigned to the Reflecting Pool” working with US Park Police were involved in detaining the two men and one woman — including officers from Texas, Oklahoma, Montana and California.

One of the officers said in court documents that Thiers “admitted to removing a piece of blue sealant from the Reflecting Pool and still had it in his hand when I made contact with him.”

The three defendants were arraigned in court Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges of destruction of property with a value less than $1,000. The judge ordered them to stay away from the Reflecting Pool.

Lawyers for Thiers and Dennison-Gibby declined to comment. CNN has reached out to Carreno’s attorney.

If found guilty of destruction of property, the defendants could be fined up to $1,000 and face a maximum of 180 days behind bars.

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The New York Times first reported that three additional people had been charged with damaging the Reflecting Pool.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that vandals caused major damage to the pool by gashing the lining after his administration spent more than $14 million on renovations, though he has not provided evidence to support that claim. The officers who charged Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby did not accuse them of gashing the lining.

Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, DC, last week for allegedly damaging the Reflecting Pool. Hearn — unlike Carreno, Thiers and Dennison-Gibby – was charged with destruction of property with a value of more than $1,000 which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, if convicted. He is set to be arraigned in court Thursday.

Crews began draining the Reflecting Pool over the weekend to make repairs, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and the administration’s allegations of vandalism – that have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of national interest.

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