The News Herald
PORT ST. JOE, Fla. — A 72-year-old woman was rushed to the hospital with critical injuries after the ambulance in which she was riding crashed almost head-on with a log truck, according to a Florida Highway Patrol news release.
The driver of the log truck has been charged with careless driving in connection with the incident, FHP reported.
The crash happened at about noon on U.S. 98 at its intersection with Gulf Aire Drive in Beacon Hill Beach. An unloaded 2004 Kenworth log truck being driven by Valarie Jean Lillard, 49, of Fountain was driving east on U.S. 98. A 2015 Chevrolet ambulance was driving west with its emergency lights off and a patient within, FHP reported.
Lillard came upon traffic stopped in the eastbound roadway and attempted to stop to avoid a crash. As the truck’s wheels started skidding, the trailer began to jackknife and pushed the tractor into the oncoming traffic lane, troopers reported.
The two vehicles careened into one another almost head-on in the westbound lane. The ambulance, a Weems Memorial Ambulance out of Franklin County, was carrying two emergency personnel and one patient.
Doris Marie Chase, 72, of Eastpoint, was taken to a Panama City hospital with critical injuries consisting of injuries from the crash along with the original medical issue that already existed. Neither of the ambulance personnel, 49-year-old Gari A. Stapleton of Crawfordville and 28-year-old Michael Smith of Panama City, sustained injuries in the crash.
Lillard was charged with careless driving. An alcohol test is pending.
U.S. 98 was closed for about four hours, and it reopened at 3:30 p.m.
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