Police Officer Shawn Antonio Smiley

Shawn Antonio Smiley

Police Officers Shawn Smiley and Richard Halford were killed in a helicopter crash while assisting in the search for a missing 9-year-old boy at approximately 10:30 pm.

They were flying low over an area approximately four miles west of downtown when the Hughes OH-6A helicopter suddenly crashed to the ground near the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Hamilton E. Holmes Drive. The helicopter exploded after impacting the ground. The cause of the crash is under investigation by the NTSB and FAA.

The boy they were searching for was found safe a short time later.

Officer Smiley was a U.S. Navy veteran and had served with the Atlanta Police Department for two years and had been assigned as a tactical flight officer in the Air Unit for one year. He is survived by his wife and three children.