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Patient dies after Wis. rig crash; firefighter cited for failure to obey traffic signal

Wausau police are investigating whether the ambulance collision caused the fatality or if it stemmed from the incident that necessitated the initial transport

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The man was being transported from there in a Riverside Fire District ambulance to Aspirus Wausau Hospital when the ambulance was involved in a crash.

Image/Riverside Fire District

By Leila Merrill

WAUSAU, Wis. — The Wausau Police Department is investigating the death of a patient who was being transported in an ambulance on Wednesday evening.

The 72-year-old man was hit by a vehicle at about 6 p.m. in Schofield, WSAW-TV reported.

He was being transported from there in a Riverside Fire District ambulance to Aspirus Wausau Hospital when the ambulance was involved in a vehicle crash at 6:29 p.m. The patient later died.

The investigation will determine whether the fatality was caused by the crash or the previous incident the EMS providers were responding to.

Investigators said the ambulance was in emergency mode, and the firefighter was cited for failure to obey a red traffic signal.

Other people in the ambulance and the passenger vehicle sustained injuries, but none were life-threatening, the police said.