Helicopter crash kills patient

LYNNVILLE, Ind. -- A paramedic hurt when a medical helicopter crashed on a remote southwestern Indiana hillside used his cell phone to call for help and then waved a flashlight to signal their whereabouts.\nThe crash some 20 miles northeast of Evansville killed the heart patient on board the flight from Huntingburg to an Evansville hospital.\nAll three crew members were injured but were listed in stable condition Wednesday, said Toni Chritton, a spokeswoman for Air Evac Lifeteam, which owned the helicopter.\nIt was unclear whether Jerry Leonard, 63, of Birdseye Ind. died as a result of his heart condition or injuries received in the crash, said Indiana State Police Sgt. Todd Ringle. Investigators were awaiting the results of an autopsy.\nRingle said the crash happened about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday after the pilot of the Bell Jet Ranger "started to make a turn, and as he was doing so, he started to tumble."\nShortly after midnight, Robert Williams, 29, of Paragon, used a cell phone to call dispatchers for Air Evac Lifeteam in West Plains, Mo., to report the crash, Chritton said.\n"He was obviously upset," Chritton said. "He was injured, and he was telling us his right arm was broken, so he was having trouble trying to hold the cell phone and hold the flashlight at the same time."\nThree medical helicopters -- one from Kentucky and two from Illinois -- and a fourth from the Indiana State Police searched for the crash site for more than an hour before it was located by air.\n"It was in the middle of the night. We had no idea where they were," Chritton said. "The paramedic was the only one able to tell us where to locate the aircraft to get the help they needed to the scene."\nChritton, however, said it was too early to know what happened. Authorities from the National Transportation Safety Board were on the scene of Wednesday's investigation.\nChritton said the 13-year-old helicopter had been refurbished and the company had started flying it a month ago.\n"We truly don't know if he was making an emergency landing or he crashed," Chritton said.\nThe pilot, Richard Larock, 42, of Shepherdsville, Ky., was partially ejected and was listed in stable condition at University of Louisville Hospital in Louisville, Ky., Chritton said.\nA nurse, Steve Ritchey, 30, of Terre Haute, was in stable condition at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Chritton said. She said he was unconscious at the crash site.\nWilliams was also in stable condition at Deaconess, Chritton said.\nThe four were the only people on the helicopter, which was based in Washington, Ind.\nAir Evac Lifeteam has 37 medical helicopters in 10 states.