8-Year-Old Hesperia Boy, An Aspiring Pilot, Dies Following Plane Crash
HESPERIA (CBSLA.com) — An 8-year-old boy Friday died from injuries sustained in a plane crash at El Mirage Dry Lake earlier in the week.
Sebastian Grewal died at Loma Linda University Medical Center at approximately 10 p.m. Friday, The Daily Press reported.
The boy's father, Joshua, owns a Menchie's frozen yogurt shop in Hesperia and had asked the community to join him in praying for Sebastian's recovery.
Unfortunately, four days and several surgeries after the crash, the boy succumbed to his injuries.
Joshua Grewal told the newspaper his son passed away peacefully in his arms.
The plane's pilot Brian Lee died the same day as the crash. The 47-year-old was a Los Angeles Fire Department helicopter pilot and a firefighter. He was not on-duty at the time.
The Daily Press reports Lee was a close friend of Joshua Grewal and had offered to take Sebastian, an aspiring pilot, for a ride on a single-engine Grumman AA-1A plane.
"The pilot began experiencing some problems...caused the aircraft to go into a nosedive. When he tried to correct and land the aircraft, the aircraft began doing a couple of barrel rolls," Cpl. Randy Naquin of the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said.
The San Bernardino County Fire Department airlifted Lee, a 25-year veteran who worked out of Fire Station 114 at the Van Nuys Airport, and Sebastian to local trauma centers.
Lee later succumbed to his injuries.
KCAL9's Rachel Kim reports that off-duty LAFD colleagues of Lee witnessed the accident.
"What we came to find out was the aircraft had been towed here by the firefighters. They were out here, basically, camping," Naquin said.
Fire officials took to Twitter to remember and honor Lee.
The cause of the crash is under investigation.