GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A 12-second ambulance dash cam video shows the driver of a Honda sedan crashing head-on with the emergency vehicle, and officials say the motorist was drinking and speeding.
Five people, including two Stanley Fire and Rescue paramedics in the ambulance, were hurt, wsoctv.com reports. One person suffered life-threatening injuries.
The medics were released from the hospital by Tuesday afternoon. The accident occurred around 3:45 p.m. Monday.
The footage shows driver Blair Orr, crossing the center line and slamming into the Gaston County EMS ambulance, which had lights and sirens on. Highway Patrol troopers said Orr had been drinking before the crash, and was speeding and driving recklessly. He had started to swerve on a curve, and then over-corrected into the ambulance.
Orr was in the car with his wife Brianna, and neither was wearing a seat belt. The couple’s niece was buckled up in the back seat, and is expected to be okay.
Witness Linda Rector told wsoctv.com that she was sitting on her front porch drinking coffee when the crash happened.
“They were just completely demolished,” she said of the ambulance and the car. “The ambulance’s frond end, there was nothing left.”