By Berkeley Brean
WHEC.com
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Traffic is back to normal now on Route 590 south bound. Just after 11am, Sheriff’s Deputies say a man jumped out of an ambulance onto the highway.
Monroe County Sheriff’s Deputies say Rural Metro was transporting a psychiatric patient from Rochester General Hospital to Strong Memorial Hospital when the male patient jumped from the moving ambulance.
Aleksey Panfilov told News 10NBC he was driving approximately 100 feet behind the ambulance. He said all of a sudden, he saw a body come tumbling out onto the highway in front of him. Panfilov said he swerved to the right to avoid hitting the man, that’s when he noticed the back doors of the ambulance were wide open.
Panfilov said the driver behind him stopped in the middle of the highway to block traffic. Then he and other witnesses ran back to the man. They said the slightly overweight, tall man was breathing heavily, unconscious and bleeding badly. He was taken to Strong Memorial Hosptial
Panfilov told News 10NBC that he heard the patient was struggling with one of the medics and tried to pull the medic out with him. Panfilov said he asked the medics what happened and he said they told him that the man is a psycho case and he just jumped out.
Route 590 southbound was partially closed for the investigation.
We have been in touch with Rural Metro Ambulance. The company tells us it’s working on a statement. That statement should include an explanation as to how a patient was able to escape from a moving ambulance.
Republished with permission from WHEC.com