By Christian Burkin
Stockton Record
Copyright 2007 The Record
STOCKTON, Calif. — A Stockton police officer who was seriously hurt in a collision between her patrol car and an ambulance was at fault, the Stockton Police Department concluded after a two-month investigation.
Officer Kimberly Sailius, 36, was the driver of a police cruiser that was T-boned by an American Medical Response ambulance around 3:30 a.m. June 24. Sailius was driving north on El Dorado Street with passenger Officer Emiliano Rincon when her car was struck on the driver’s side by the ambulance, traveling east on Weber Avenue.
Both vehicles, with flashers on and sirens blaring, were responding to separate emergency calls at the time. Finding fault has centered on determining which of the two vehicles had the green light and whether they followed proper procedures.
During a Code 3 response, in which lights and sirens are used, emergency vehicles can exceed the posted speed limit and drive through a red light when there is no oncoming traffic, according to state law. But vehicles at a red light must first slow down and make sure the coast is clear, said Stockton police Officer Pete Smith, a Police Department spokesman.
The Stockton Police Department’s Major Collisions Investigations Team concluded that Sailius was at fault, having failed to confirm traffic was clear before passing through a red light. Police investigators worked alongside a private investigator working on behalf of American Medical Response, and their report was sent to the Stockton-area office of the California Highway Patrol for review. The CHP concurred with the findings that Sailius was at fault.
AMR spokesman Jason Sorrick said the investigation went smoothly and professionally, and that AMR was happy with its conclusions.
“Obviously, mistakes were made, but we learn from them,” Sorrick said.
Sailius suffered multiple broken bones and severe head and facial trauma in the wreck, and had to be airlifted to Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto after initial treatment at San Joaquin General Hospital. Rincon, 26, was treated for a concussion at San Joaquin General Hospital.
Ambulance driver Timothy Hartley, 30, and passenger David Stephens, 33, both suffered minor injuries in the crash. They were treated at Lodi Memorial Hospital. There were no patients in the ambulance at the time of the accident.
Sailius, who joined the Stockton Police Department in early 2006, is still off-duty recovering from her injuries. Smith said she is expected to make a full recovery and return to duty. If Sailius is punished for her role in the accident, it will be handled internally and will not be made public, he said.
Police officials have said that Sailius is a dedicated and competent officer, and they will welcome her back when she is able to return to duty.
“We wish we could get her back to work and that we could have more like her,” Smith said.
Investigators had footage from downtown traffic cameras in the area of Weber Avenue and El Dorado Street where the crash occurred, but they did not have definitive footage to determine fault, they said. Cameras captured moments immediately before and after the crash, but they did not record the entry of both vehicles into the intersection, they said.