The pilot and state police trooper who died in last weekend's helicopter crash in Walker Mill Regional Park were both fathers, one of three grown children and one of a 4-month-old girl.
Medevac helicopter Trooper 2 had been dispatched at about 11 p.m. Saturday to the scene of a traffic crash in Waldorf from its hangar at Andrews Air Force Base. It picked up two injured teenage girls to take them to Prince George's Hospital Center in Cheverly but crashed in unincorporated District Heights between noon and 12:30 a.m. Sunday, killing four of its passengers and critically injuring a fifth, according to the National Transportation Safety Board. The cause of the crash is still unknown.
Stephen H. Bunker, 59, of Waldorf had flown with the Maryland State Police for more than 24 years, according to a press release. He was married and had two daughters and one son.
"Steve was a loving, devoted husband and father, and we will miss him more than words can say," said his wife, Sherry Bunker in a press release from the MSP. "He was a hero to his family and all who knew him. He died doing what he loved to do. My husband was a rock within our family for 23 years. He has been, and will forever be, the love of my life."
Bunker retired from the state police in 1998 as a corporal but served as a civilian pilot with the agency.
"Being a pilot for the Maryland State Police fulfilled a lifelong dream for Steve. He loved helping people, and he loved aviation. Being a pilot for the Maryland State Police enabled him to do both. Over his career in aviation, Steve and his colleagues saved countless lives," said Sherry Bunker in the release.
"He was a great dad. I'm proud to have had a father who risked his life daily to save others. He is my hero," Stephen Bunker's son, Scott, said in the release.
Mickey C. Lippy, 34, of Westminster had served as a flight paramedic with the Maryland State Police since April 2007, according to a press release from the state agency.
He was married to Christine Lippy and had recently returned to work after the birth of his now 4-month-old daughter.
"He was the most genuine person you could ever meet," said Lippy's older sister, Dawn Childs, who said he was thrilled to become a father. "He absolutely loved kids. [His daughter] was the world to him."
Lippy dreamed of being a paramedic from the age of 3 or 4, when he would practice by bandaging up a Pink Panther doll or dressing up as a fireman. "He died doing what he did since he was a little boy," Childs said.
Before working with the state police, Lippy served with the Anne Arundel County Fire Department from August 2000 to October 2004. He joined the state police four years ago, according to the MSP press release.
Tanya Mallard's enthusiasm for her role as a volunteer EMT and her compassion for the two young victims, Ashley J. Younger, 17, and Jordan Wells, 18, who were involved in the car accident, were the reasons she decided to step aboard the Maryland State Police Trooper 2 helicopter to accompany them to the hospital.
The instant Mallard's friends at Co. 12 heard the news early Sunday morning, they rushed to the firehouse to console one another and try to grasp how their friend who had so much to offer the community could have died in such a manner.
Rhonda Williams said she decided to volunteer as an EMT in May, at the same time Mallard returned to Co. 12 after a year's absence. The two women hit it off instantly, she said.
"I met her here at the fire station," she said Monday. "It was an instant connection. We were pulled toward each other. We were the only two African-American females here, and we're the same age."
Lt. Lindsay Cox, an EMT with Co. 12, said Mallard was training to drive one of the department's ambulances.
"She went out for the first time Saturday," she said. "She always had this huge smile on her face. She was a bubbly person, and she was so excited to be here. She made everyone around her happy."
Cox said she was not surprised Mallard jumped at the chance to accompany Younger and Wells on their flight to the hospital.
"She had never flown before; this was her opportunity to fly," she said.
Tributes to Younger are flooding the online Facebook group "RIP Ashley Younger" with more than 400 members expressing their grief.
Younger is being remembered by those who knew her as "vibrant" and "uplifting."
"… [I]t was impossible not to smile after being in her presence," said Younger's friend, Romney Makle, adding that he thought of her as a younger sister. "Whenever you needed help, Ashley never hesitated to be there by your side."
A dedicated student, Younger was focused on her education, said Chrystal Benson, Westlake High School principal.
Spending part of her senior year as an office aide, the teen left an impression on Benson.
"Ashley had a wonderful sense of humor … [she] had a smile and a wave for everybody," recalled Benson, describing Younger as a sweet and inquisitive girl.
Younger was an accounting major at Frostburg and a "math and science whiz," her cousin Ricky Jones Jr. said.
"She was really caring and outgoing," he said in an e-mail. "I can't express in words how my family is grieving. We are totally shocked and dismayed."
Wells, of Waldorf, is recovering at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore.
