By John Zaremba
Boston Herald
MILFORD, Mass. — A woman was killed when the ambulance she was riding in was struck, rolled over and came to rest on a guardrail on Route 140 in Milford this morning — just a block from the hospital where she was headed, police said.
Police did not release the woman’s name or age but said the ambulance was taking her from a dialysis appointment back to Milford Regional Medical Center on Route 140 when a sedan ran a stop sign at Green Street and hit the ambulance’s rear quarter panel. The ambulance’s lights and sirens were not activated.
“What took place is pretty much the pit move you see in car chases. It’s on TV all the time,” Milford police chief Thomas O’Loughlin said. “It causes those rear wheels to go into a slide. In this case, it did just that. The ambulance went into a slide, struck the curbing and went into a rollover. It came back upright but on top of a guardrail.”
The sedan driver and a paramedic riding in the back of the ambulance also were hospitalized in the 11:12 a.m. crash, O’Loughlin said. He did not know their conditions but said the sedan driver, a woman, was talking to paramedics and that the air bag in her car deployed, suggesting it struck the ambulance with great force.
The ambulance is operated by Community Emergency Medical Services. A representative of the company could not immediately be reached this afternoon.
O’Loughlin said the crash is under investigation, but police do not suspect alcohol played a role.