By EMS1 Staff
CHICAGO — An EMT who crashed an ambulance and killed three had cocaine in his system, according to officials.
Toxicology reports conducted by the Cook County Medical Examiner found that EMT James Wesley had cocaine in his bloodstream when he lost control of the ambulance and crashed into a suburban, according to ABC7.
Wesley, EMT Prentis Williams and dialysis patient Larry Marshall all died in the March 31 crash.
The medical examiner report also said that Wesley had “significant chronic cardiac disease,” and that an autopsy could not “confirm or deny that an acute cardiac event and/or cocaine intoxication contributed to motor vehicle collision.”
Officials said that Wesley should not have been legally allowed to drive an ambulance because of his extensive felony record, which included drug possession.
Two lawsuits have been filed against Excel Ambulance Company.
“The ambulance company allowed this man to drive the ambulance when he clearly was not in a condition to be driving the ambulance,” Tom Zimmerman, an attorney for the family of Williams, said. “He put passengers’ lives at risk and he put other pedestrians and motorists at risk and it’s as a result of a failure on behalf of the ambulance company to appropriately monitor its drivers and placing a clearly unfit individual behind the wheel of one of its ambulances.”
An attorney representing Excel Ambulance said the ambulance that crashed was actually owned by the now-defunct ambulance company New Life and was being remodeled, and that Wesley “took the ambulance without permission.”
“James Wesley knew the regular schedule,” Frank Nagorka, an attorney representing New Life, said. “They had no idea he went to pick up this patient or that the ambulance was taken. He took the ambulance without permission. He was not authorized to take the ambulance.”
Officials said they are currently reviewing the results of the autopsy.