The three injured were on board the helicopter before it went down around 7 p.m. on eastbound Highway 50 near 59th Street in Sacramento, according to the Sacramento Fire Department.
The victims, two women and a man, were transported to local hospitals, Sacramento Fire Capt. Justin Sylvia told reporters from the scene. One of the victims was rescued after being trapped underneath the helicopter, he said.
“The captain immediately sequestered the help of just civilians that were standing around. They were able to lift part of that helicopter out and get that victim out,” Sylvia said.
FAA records show the helicopter was registered to REACH Air Medical Services. There was no patient on board, but a pilot, nurse and paramedic were on board, Sylvia told reporters.
“There’s a pretty large debris field,” Sylvia said, calling it “extremely lucky” that there weren’t more victims.
Aerial video of the aftermath showed a red helicopter on its side with a smashed cockpit window and debris over the highway surface.
Fire officials and an ambulance were dispatched to the site around 7:08 p.m. local time, the department said.
The crash has affected traffic with eastbound lanes completely blocked temporarily, Officer Michael Harper, a California Highway Patrol spokesman, told reporters, warning the road would be shut “for an extended period of time.”
CNN has reached out to the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, Sacramento Police, the Federal Aviation Administration, California Highway Patrol and REACH Air Medical Services for additional information.
According to flight tracking site Flightradar24, the helicopter had taken off from University of California Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and was heading north moments before the crash.