On Mar 20, 7:56 am, wrote:
Seconds before the plane came down, Riegel said, the pilot told his
passengers he would land on the grass next to the runway.

Wonder why the pilot chose to land on the grass instead of the hard,

I thought that too. When flying a retract that won't let the gear
down I always thought the preferred landing places were in this order

Best...........: sealed runway
Less Good......: grass runway
Really Bad Day.: anything else