JEFFERSON COUNTY, Ill. — An ambulance was hit by a car while responders were working a rollover crash on an interstate Monday.
KFVS12.com reported that the Ina Police Department, Litton’s ambulance services, the Jefferson Fire Protection District, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and the Illinois State Police were on scene of the crash involving a car and a semi when the ambulance was hit by an oncoming driver.
Authorities said one vehicle nearly hit the ambulance, as well as a police officer, before coming to a stop. As officers were taking that driver into custody for DUI, a second vehicle hit the ambulance from behind. Two EMS providers were taken to a hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries.
“These are the dangers the first responders face every day. Please if you see emergency lighting, slow down and get over,” Jefferson County Sheriff Travis Allen said in a Facebook post. “This is a matter of recklessness. Please people remember these first responders have families they want to go home to. There is nothing you are in that big of a hurry for. Slow down and get over.”
Driver Corey Robinson was cited for failure to reduce speed and failure to yield to a stationary emergency vehicle.
The driver of the vehicle that nearly hit the ambulance, Ginger Corwin, was taken into custody for DUI. She was charged with possession of cannabis, operating an uninsured motor vehicle, aggravated DUI, endangering the life of a child and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle.
A child in Corwin’s vehicle was taken into custody and later released to family.