EDEN, N.C. — An off-duty paramedic who stopped to help someone in a crash was killed when struck by another vehicle.
William “Bill” McKinney Jr., 42, of Reidsville and an employee of Rockingham County EMS for 19 years, pulled of the when he saw two vehicles that slid on a patch of ice and into a ditch around 7:30 a.m. on Highway 14, WFMY reports.
He had just finished a 12-hour shift and was still in uniform and wearing a reflective coat when he got out of the car, according to a press release from Rockingham County.
As he was talking with the victims, a tractor-trailer hit the same patch of ice and jack-knifed.
The back of the trailer hit one of the vehicles and McKinney; the front hit the guardrail and a third vehicle, and then the trailer flipped over onto the guardrail.
McKinney leaves behind a wife and two young children.
“We are just in disbelief and shocked over this tragedy,” said Rockingham County Emergency Services Director Johnny Bowles.
The North Carolina Highway Patrol is investigating the incident. Troopers charged Louis Cornelius, 58, of Greensboro with the death of McKinney.