Patient Dies after Ambulance Crash with Dump Truck on MO Highway
On behalf of Brown & Crouppen, P.C. posted in Motor Vehicle Accident on Friday, July 15, 2011
A patient being transported to the hospital in an ambulance died shortly after the ambulance was struck head-on by a dump truck on a southwestern Missouri highway on July 8. Four other people involved in the accident were injured, including both drivers, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said in a report. It may be months before investigators can say whether either driver was at fault.
Around 1:20 p.m., the ambulance was travelling eastbound on Missouri 32 toward Citizens Memorial Hospital in Bolivar. It was transporting a 67-year-old Greenfield man who was suffering an undisclosed health problem. As the ambulance came upon westbound traffic, the vehicles slowed down to let it pass.
Among the westbound vehicles was a 1994 Peterbilt dump truck driven by a 74-year-old Stockton man. The dump truck driver apparently hit the brakes and the truck, which was not carrying a load, fishtailed and slid into the eastbound lanes in front of the ambulance. The vehicles collided head-on.
The patient died instantly, though the Polk County Coroner said it was not certain that injuries from the accident caused his death. The ambulance driver, 48, was seriously injured and was taken by helicopter to the hospital. The dump truck driver was less seriously injured, as were two other people in the ambulance. The ambulance driver was listed in fair condition as of July 12, with the dump truck driver being in good condition.
The state patrol’s Major Crash Investigation Unit is investigating the accident. An article about the crash said it takes around two months for the unit to complete its investigations.
Source: Bolivar Herald-Free Press, “One person dead, four injured in ambulance, dump truck collision,” Charlotte Marsch, July 13, 2011