By Adam McNaughton
Pocono Record
MIDDLE SMITHFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A bizarre Saturday afternoon crash in Middle Smithfield Township sent four people to area hospitals after a woman drove about a half mile down Route 209 with her husband clinging to the hood of her car before crashing head-on into an ambulance.
The man was sent flying onto the road and was flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital where he was in critical condition Sunday.
State police said the series of events that led to the crash started when Judith Amman, 52, tried to drive away from her home on Edward Smith Boulevard during a verbal fight with her husband, Ricardo Amman, around 2:30 Saturday afternoon.
As Judith Amman tried to drive away, Ricardo Amman jumped onto the hood of her 2010 Subaru Legacy, police said. She drove south on Edward Smith Boulevard and turned right onto Route 209 — with her husband still holding onto the hood. As she drove south on Route 209, a Bushkill ambulance headed toward her with emergency lights and sirens active after it was called to the area.
The Subaru and the ambulance crashed head-on about a half mile south of Edward Smith Boulevard, near the Bennigan’s Restaurant on Route 209. Ricardo Amman was thrown onto the hood of the ambulance and then rolled onto the road.
He was flown by helicopter to Lehigh Valley Hospital and Judith Amman was taken by ambulance to Pocono Medical Center with minor injuries, as were the two men in the ambulance during the crash — Ryan Felmy, 26, of Bushkill, and Joseph Bolger, 21, of East Stroudsburg.
Both vehicles were towed from the scene and traffic was tied up on Route 209 for several hours as state police from Swiftwater investigated the crash with a state police forensics unit.
Charges are pending the outcome of the investigation and police did not say in which lane of Route 209 the crash took place or how the fight between Ricardo and Judith Amman started.
Republished with permission from The Pocono Record