FLINT, Mich. — The Genesee County Medical Control Authority will launch an investigation into how a Mobile Medical Response ambulance crew that responded to a crash scene failed to notice a man in the car.
The body of Cortez Lionel Cheathams, 28, was found by a second ambulance crew nearly two hours later, Mlive.com reports. Cheathams’ mother declined to comment on the situation.
The first 911 call came in just after 4 a.m. on July 18 from neighbors who said that a car had hit a tree. Flint police said officers were tied up with two unrelated priority calls of a homicide investigation and a shooting, and an MMR ambulance arrived at 4:26 a.m., one minute after it was dispatched.
Mobile Medical Response released a statement saying “The MMR crews responded immediately, arrived on scene and activated scene lights. The crew exited the ambulance, assessed the scene but were unable to locate the deceased.”
The call was downgraded to a less-serious call of a single-car property damage accident involving a damaged vehicle that was abandoned.
Neighbor Devon Johnson said the occupants of the first ambulance never got out of their vehicle.
“The ambulance showed up — flashed its lights in the car — neither one got out, and they pulled off,” Johnson previously told The Flint Journal. “So we called police again.”
More 911 calls came in. A second MMR ambulance was dispatched after a fifth 911 call at 5:39 a.m. from a neighbor who investigated the scene, and saw a man in the car.
“MMR was later summoned to the scene and the second crew, with a more extensive search in the daylight hours, was able to locate the deceased among the wreckage of the vehicle and proceeded to make the notifications to the appropriate city and county agencies,” the MMR statement says.
Bruce Trevithick, executive director for the Genesee County Medical Control Authority, said any 911 call for medical help is sent to the closest ambulance.
“In general, when EMS is dispatched to a motor vehicle accident, there is an expectation that the crew do a thorough search for injured patients, both inside and outside of the vehicle,” Trevithick said.
The investigation could take about a month, and the findings will be released to the public only if there is a call for a suspension of revocation of a license.