Patient dies in NJ ambulance crash, 2 EMTs airlifted to hospital
Accident occurred after vehicle crashed into tree
|
Tweet
|
|
WARREN COUNTY, N.J. — A patient in the back of an ambulance was killed this afternoon in Warren County when the vehicle swerved suddenly to the right and crashed into a tree, New Jersey State Police said at the scene.
The crash occurred shortly after 3:30 p.m. on southbound Route 519 in White Township, just north of Route 46. An emergency medical worker driving the ambulance and a second worker in the back with the patient were both taken to area hospitals with what appeared to be non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
Police did not immediately release names of those involved. The ambulance belongs to Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Ambulance Corporation and was taking a patient from Newton Memorial Hospital in Sussex County to Warren Haven, Warren County's nursing home in Mansfield Township, police said.
David Acevedo said he was driving a white pickup truck behind the ambulance when he saw it swerve suddenly and hit the tree. He dialed 911 and ran to the ambulance, where he found the driver yelling and told him to calm down.
Karen Dunaj was walking into her Route 519 house when she heard the crash and spun around to see what had happened.
"It's completely chaos," she said at the scene alongside her 5-year-old daughter, Sarah, and an 8-year-old family friend, Emily Bussard.
The emergency medical worker in the back with the patient was flown to St. Luke's Hospital, Fountain Hill. The driver was taken to Morristown Memorial Hospital. There was no immediate word on their conditions.
Reprinted with permission of The Express-Times.
