By John Fitzhugh
The Sun Herald
GULFPORT, Miss. — An Alabama couple helped rescue a patient and two paramedics in an ambulance after it crashed on Interstate 10 on Monday.
Shelly Thibideau, 46, and her husband Robert, 54, of Gadsden, Alabama, stopped to help when they saw the ambulance lying on its side in the woods next to the interstate. The couple was driving from Mobile to Baton Rouge in a company truck.
Thibideau said she climbed through the passenger-side window and found the driver still strapped into her seat. Her husband reached in and cut her seatbelt as she held the driver.
Thibideau then went to help the other paramedic and his patient, who was on his side, still strapped to his gurney.
The paramedic was new to the job, she said, but kept his cool as they worked to release the patient from his gurney. “He did an amazing job,” she said.
All three escaped serious injury and were taken to Garden Park Medical Center in Gulfport for observation.
The ambulance was westbound about 12:53 p.m. when it hydroplaned and overturned, landing on the driver’s side about a half mile west of Canal Road, authorities said. There was heavy rain in the area at the time of the crash.
The vehicle’s back doors were blocked by tree limbs, and first responders had to cut them to get the patient out of the ambulance, Harrison County Sheriff Troy Peterson said.
The ambulance is owned by ASAP EMS Service of Laurel, which is a non-emergency medical transport business.
One lane was closed about 45 minutes later but two lanes remained open.
Thibideau said they work for Deep South Communications of Baton Rouge and install communications towers for the company. Another motorist also stopped to help, she said.
A spokesman for ASAP EMS later Monday said the crew and patient were fine.
Responding agencies included Harrison County Fire Services, Harrison County Sheriff’s Office and Mississippi Highway Patrol.