Francisco (“Frank”) Knipping-Díaz, a prominent Dominican-American lawyer, serving the Dominican community in Upper Manhattan, New York, died on Saturday afternoon, 18 August 2019. The Cessna 303 airplane he was piloting crashed into a house in Dutchess County in upstate New York.
At the time, 61-year old Knipping-Díaz was accompanied by 50-year old Eduardo Tió and 52-year old Teofilo Antonio Díaz Pratt, both from the Dominican Republic, who survived with non-life threatening injuries.
Also killed in the accident was the owner of the Dutchess County house they crashed into, 61-year-old Gerard Bocker. His daughter, 21-year old Hannah Bocker suffered serious injuries. Her sister, 30-year old Sarah Bocker, suffered non-life threatening injuries.
According to Peter Knudson, spokesman of the National Transport Safety Board, the plane took off from the Orange County airport, heading towards Republic Airport in Farmingdale. After takeoff, the plane had landed in Sky Acres Airport in Grangeville to refuel and having left there, it had engine trouble and crashed.
The police said the home was engulfed in flames following the crash. The crash is being investigated by state police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.
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LI Herald
20 August 2019