A man crashed a plane into his Utah home early Monday morning after authorities accused him of assaulting his wife in a domestic dispute, police said.
The pilot, 47-year-old Duane Youd, died in the crash hours after authorities booked him into the Utah County Jail on a domestic violence charge and released him on bail, USA Today reported.
Youd posted bail Sunday night and, accompanied by an officer, returned home after midnight to pack his bags into his truck. CBS News reported that on Monday at 2:30 a.m, he crashed a twin-engine Cessna 525 into his house.
The plane nearly struck other homes and power lines on its descent, Sgt. Noemi Sandoval of the Payson Police Department said.
His wife and child, who were in the home at the time of the crash, survived.
Youd was an experienced pilot who flew the plane for his employer, Sandoval said.
It is unclear who Youd’s employer was or whether he was authorized to fly at that time.
Authorities arrested Youd on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. after witnesses called police to report him for assaulting his wife, Utah County Sheriff’s Sgt. Spencer Cannon told the Associated Press.
The couple went to American Fork Canyon to discuss their relationship problems and had been drinking, police said.
Aerial footage of the wreckage showed the remains of a charred white plane in the home’s front yard next to an overturned vehicle. The 2,700 square-foot house sustained heavy damage to its front, but the rest of the house remained intact.
Federal transportation agencies, including the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, are investigating.
The incident comes four days after another airplane incident where a ground crew employee at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport in Washington State took a turboprop plane and flew for about an hour before crashing into an island located in the Puget Sound.
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