Four killed as plane hits crowd

12-year-old, toddler among dead at park

? A small plane struggling after takeoff crashed into a Fourth of July crowd at a suburban Los Angeles park, killing four people and injuring 12, some of them children picnicking with their families, authorities said.

The pilot and a 12-year-old girl were among the dead.

Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Laura Brown said the crash “sounds completely like an accident” and Gov. Gray Davis said the pilot issued two mayday distress calls after takeoff from Brackett Field, a small airport near the park on a lake.

“The wings clipped on the trees. It went nose first. Bodies flying all over the place,” said witness Javier Franco. He said two girls were trapped under the plane.

“Other people took the bodies out of the plane. I can’t forget seeing the bodies on the ground.”

The plane hit a tree and then broke in two after it crashed, witnesses said.

The twin-engine Cessna 310 crashed near the shore of Puddingstone Reservoir at Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, where hundreds of people were barbecuing and celebrating the Fourth of July. The park is about 30 miles east of Los Angeles.

The plane came down in an area were four or five groups were picnicking, said Mike Brown, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

“It was total chaos,” Brown said.

Another fire department spokesman, Brian Jordan, said the pilot, a 12-year-old girl who was trapped beneath a wing, and a toddler died at hospitals, and one adult died at the crash site.

A spokeswoman for Pomona Valley Hospital, Kathy Perkins, identified two of the victims as Michael Brand, 44, and 12-year-old Jackie Ton. A 15-month-old boy died at Citrus Valley Medical Center of head injuries, Jordan said.

Several of the injured were in critical condition, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Capt. Mark Savage. About half the people had minor injuries, he said.

A passenger on the plane survived, an FAA spokesman said. Firefighters said they were not sure how many people were on the four-seat plane.