Man Crashes Plane Into His Own Home After Being Arrested On Domestic Violence Charges
(CNN) -- A Utah man died flying a Cessna 525 Citation Jet into his home, where his wife and her son were, early Monday, hours after he was arrested for domestic violence, police said.
The incident began at American Fork Canyon, about 35 miles south of Salt Lake City, when the Utah County Sheriff's Office received calls about a domestic violence situation between Duane Youd and his wife on Sunday night, according to Payson Police Department spokeswoman Sgt. Noemi Sandoval.
"They had been drinking and an argument broke out and he started hitting her and some witnesses called in to police to say a guy was hitting a woman," Sandoval said on Monday.
Youd was arrested and was bailed out Monday morning between 12:30 a.m. and 1 a.m., Sandoval said. When Youd asked if he could go back to his home and pick up some belongings, he was escorted by an officer and left the home in his vehicle, police said.
"He then evidently went to the airplane" after leaving his home, Sandoval said.
Around 2:30 a.m., Payson authorities received a call that a plane had crashed into Youd's home.
Youd was a professional pilot, Sandoval said. He flew for VanCon, a construction company that owned the plane. Youd was the only person who flew it, Sandoval said.
Youd's wife and her son were in the home at the time of the crash, but were able to escape Sandoval said.
Neighbors who saw the crash said they couldn't believe it. Slade Buhler told CNN affiliate KTVX-TV he heard the plane circling the neighborhood around 2:30 a.m. Monday.
"It just got lower and lower. I said 'Oh my gosh it's going to hit the mountain. It's going to hit the mountain. It's getting lower.' You can just see it getting lower. All of a sudden a huge ball of orange fire. I couldn't believe it," said Buhler.
Flames engulfed the house, video posted to Facebook by Eric Ortega shows. Ortega, who lives about a block away, said he recorded the video after his mother woke him up.
"She heard the plane flying really low. Then it passed again, and she heard the crash," Ortega told CNN.
Public records obtained by CNN affiliate KSTU-TV showed Youd lived at the home where the plane crashed, and he and his wife had bought the home last year. Payson police confirmed there have been previous domestic violence incidents at the home, KSTU reported.
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