Park Police helicopter unit again plays critical role

For the second time in three weeks, the crew members of the U.S. Park Police Aviation Unit played a key role in a crisis situation.

One of the unit’s three helicopters landed on the Mall on Thursday to pick up the police officer injured after a woman rammed a security barrier at the White House and led officers on a chase down Pennsylvania Avenue and crashed near the U.S. Capitol.

During the Sept. 16 Navy Yard shooting, one of the police unit’s helicopters helped pluck victims from a rooftop even before confirmation that the gunman on the loose in the building had been accounted for.

Park Police spokesman Sgt. Paul Brooks could not confirm it was the same pilot and crew that rescued the police officer and the Navy Yard victims, but because the unit is small, “there’s a good chance,” he said.