By James Loewenstein
The Daily Review
EAGLES MERE, Pa. — DUI charges will not be filed against an Eagles Mere man who had been driving an ambulance that crashed while transporting a patient to a hospital on Sept. 13 in Shrewsbury Township, Sullivan County, state police said on Thursday.
The state police at Laporte had issued a press release on the day after the crash which stated that the driver — 67-year-old John Huhn — had been arrested “on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol” at the time of the crash.
However, the state police said they had been waiting for the results of a blood test before deciding whether to file DUI charges against Huhn. The test, which was performed after the crash, measured the amount of alcohol in Huhn’s blood.
State police received the results of the test earlier this week, which showed that the amount of alcohol in Huhn’s blood at the time of the crash “was below the legal limit,” said state Trooper Donald Cole.
DUI charges will therefore not be filed against Huhn, Cole said.
“There will just be some summary offenses” filed against Huhn for traffic violations, “probably careless driving” as well as failure to stay in the right lane, Cole said.
At the time of the crash, the ambulance, which is owned by the Eagles Mere Ambulance Association, was transporting 45-year-old Kathleen Smith of Eagles Mere from her home to Geisinger Medial Center in Danville. Smith was uninjured in the crash, but two emergency medical technicians from Eagles Mere — Richard Schaefer, 70, and Lee Hays, 79, — suffered minor injuries.
Cole declined to reveal the amount of alcohol that was in Huhn’s blood, other than to say it was “below the legal limit.” The legal limit for adult drivers is .08 percent. Nor would Cole say whether any alcohol at all was found in Huhn’s blood.
The state police had said in their press release that Huhn “had been drinking alcohol” prior to the crash, which occurred at 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 13.
But Schaefer, who is the captain of the Eagles Mere Ambulance Association, said that while Huhn had consumed alcohol on the day of the crash during the afternoon, the amount he consumed was “not much.”
The amount that Huhn consumed was so small and the consumption occurred so many hours before the crash that it would not have affected his driving, Schaefer said.
Huhn “was not in any way under the influence of alcohol,” Schaefer said.
Schaefer also said it was incorrect for the state police to say that Huhn had been “arrested.”
“He was not restrained” by the police, Schaefer said.
In fact, the only reason that Huhn had a blood test done was because the ambulance association asked that it be done, Schaefer said.
It is an unwritten policy for drivers of the ambulance association and the Eagles Mere Volunteer Fire Company to undergo a test for the presence of alcohol if they are involved in a motor vehicle accident, Schaefer said.
The policy exists because the fire company, which owns the ambulance association, wants to make sure that the driver cannot be accused of being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash, Schaefer said.
The tests are also important so that an insurance company cannot claim that the driver was intoxicated and refuse to make a payout, he said.
After members of the ambulance association made it known at the accident scene that they wanted Huhn to be tested, the investigating state trooper offered to give Huhn a ride to the Laporte Medical Center in Laporte to undergo the test, since he was driving back to the state barracks in Laporte anyway, Schaefer said.
Schaefer also said on Friday that the Eagles Mere Volunteer Fire Company and the ambulance association will not be taking any disciplinary action against Huhn.
“Alcohol was not an issue” in the accident, Schaefer said.
As is the standard procedure at the fire company and ambulance association, Huhn’s driving privileges as an ambulance driver had been suspended while the association waited for the results of the blood test, Schaefer said.
Schaefer said Friday that Huhn’s driving privileges will now be restored. Schaefer said he needs to meet with Brian Smith, chief of the fire company, in order to take official action to restore Schaefer’s driving privileges.
Schaefer and Smith also said that the state police have refused to reveal the results of the blood test to the ambulance association, other than to say that the amount of alcohol in Huhn’s blood was below the legal limit.
The accident occurred as Huhn was driving a 2000 Ford 550 ambulance south on state Route 3007 in Shrewsbury Township at 9:30 p.m. Sunday when he failed to negotiate a left-hand curve in the roadway, according to the state police at Laporte.
The ambulance traveled off the western side of the roadway and into a ditch, state police said.
The ambulance sustained minor damage in the crash, state police said.
Following the crash, Kathleen Smith was transported by Muncy Valley Emergency Medical Services to Geisinger Medical Center, Brian Smith said.
Schaefer and Hays were transported by Laporte Emergency Medical Services to Muncy Valley Hospital for treatment of their injuries, Brian Smith said.
The state police said Friday that they had no comment at this time regarding the Ambulance Association’s allegations.
Copyright 2009
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News