Detective dies from injuries suffered in helicopter crash
Posted: 8:41 AM- A Uintah County sheriff's detective injured Tuesday in a helicopter crash in eastern Utah died overnight at LDS Hospital.
Detective Kevin Orr and pilot Brian Grayson from Reno, Nev., were in the helicopter searching for a missing Jensen woman when it flew into power lines and then dropped into the Green River around 12:50 p.m.
Uintah County sheriff's Lt. John Laursen this morning confirmed Orr's death.
Grayson was doing "a lot better" at University Hospital, Laursen said. "We spoke with him this morning. He was alert and conscious."
The helicopter, owned by Martin Drilling, hit a 69,000-volt transmission line that runs parallel to Jensen and across the Green River, said Moon Lake Electric Co. spokesman Russell Cowan.
Several Moon Lake employees were sent to the area and confirmed the helicopter was in the water, he said.
The helicopter was being used to look for 25-year-old Kimberly Michelle Turney, who was last seen Friday before she was involved in a car crash near the area of Tuesday's helicopter crash.
Turney has not been heard from since the accident. Search and rescue crews also were scouring the area on foot when the helicopter went down, the sheriff's office reported.
The lines that were hit provide power to customers from Jensen to Dinosaur, Colo., about 25 miles away, Cowan said.