Police are investigating an ambulance crash in east-central Alberta that sent its attendants and a patient to hospital.

RCMP say the crash happened Tuesday about 15 kilometres west of Smoky Lake.

The occupants were taken to various hospitals in Edmonton with undetermined injuries.

Police say alcohol and speed were not factors.

A drunken teenager punched a paramedic who was called to help her when she passed out in a Wigton bar.

Emma Jones, 18, hit the female paramedic in the chest outside the West Street Social Club, Wigton, leaving her with a red mark. The student had been drinking heavily and was found unconscious at 7.30pm on December 28.

Jones, of Curwen Street, Workington, pleaded guilty to assault at Carlisle Magistrates’ Court.

In a statement read out in court, the ambulance worker said: “I’m not a punchbag for drunken revellers to hit out at.”

Adrienne Harris, prosecuting, said Jones was covered with vomit when the ambulance arrived.

She added: “The paramedic helped her sit up and Miss Jones became very aggressive, shouting at her while she was trying to help. She saw her make a clenched fist and she tried to take a step back to stop herself being assaulted.”

But crouching on the floor in front of Jones, the paramedic was unable to get away in time.

Jones, a student at Lakes College, near Workington, was ordered to pay £80 compensation to the paramedic, plus £20 court costs.

By Matt Richtel

They are the most wired vehicles on the road, with dashboard computers, sophisticated radios, navigation systems and cellphones.

While such gadgets are widely seen as distractions to be avoided behind the wheel, there are hundreds of thousands of drivers — police officers and paramedics — who are required to use them, sometimes at high speeds, while weaving through traffic, sirens blaring.

The drivers say the technology is a huge boon for their jobs, saving valuable seconds and providing instant access to essential information. But it also presents a clear risk — even the potential to take a life while they are trying to save one.

Philip Macaluso, a New York paramedic, recalled a moment recently when he was rushing to the hospital while keying information into his dashboard computer. At the last second, he looked up from the control panel and slammed on his brakes to avoid a woman who stepped into the street.

“There is a potential for disaster here,” Mr. Macaluso said. Data does not exist about crashes caused by police officers or medics distracted by their devices. But there are tragic anecdotes.

In April 2008, an emergency medical technician in West Nyack, N.Y., looked at his GPS screen, swerved and hit a parked flatbed truck. The crash sheared off the side of the ambulance and left his partner, who was in the passenger seat, paralyzed.

In June 2007, a sheriff’s deputy in St. Clair County, Ill., was driving 35 miles per hour when a dispatcher radioed with an assignment. He entered the address into the mapping system and then looked up, too late to avoid hitting a sedan stopped in traffic. Its driver was seriously injured.

Ambulances and police cars are becoming increasingly wired. Some 75 percent of police cruisers have on-board computers, a figure that has doubled over the last decade, says David Krebs, an industry analyst with the VDC Research Group. He estimates about 30 percent of ambulances have such technology.

The use of such technology by so-called first responders comes as regulators, legislators and safety advocates seek to limit the use of gadgets by most drivers. Police officers, medics and others who study the field say they are searching to find the right balance between technology’s risks and benefits.

The computers allow police, for example, to check license plate data, find information about a suspect and exchange messages with dispatchers. Ambulances receive directions to accident scenes and can use the computers to send information about the patient before they arrive at hospitals.

“The technology is enormously beneficial,” said Jeffrey Lindsey, a retired fire chief in Florida who now is an executive at the Health and Safety Institute, which provides continuing education for emergency services workers.

But he said first responders generally did not have enough training to deal with diversions that could be “almost exponential” compared with those faced by most drivers.

The New York Fire Department, which coordinates the city’s largest ambulance system, said drivers were not supposed to use on-board computers in traffic. That is the role of the driver’s partner, and if the partner is in the back tending to a patient, the driver is supposed to use devices before speeding off.

“There’s no need for our drivers to get distracted, because the system has evolved to keep safety paramount,” said Jerry Gombo, assistant chief for emergency service operations at the Fire Department. Drivers do get into accidents, he said, but he couldn’t remember a single one caused by distraction from using a computer.

He also estimates the technology saves 20 to 30 seconds per call. “There’s no doubt we’re having quicker response time,” Mr. Gombo added.

But in interviews, medics and E.M.T.’s in New York and elsewhere say that although they are aware of the rules, they do use their on-board computers while driving because they can’t wait for certain information.

States that ban drivers from texting or using hand-held phones tend to exempt first responders. And in many places where even they are forbidden to use cellphones behind the wheel, the edict is often ignored.

“My partner was checking baseball scores as he was driving a patient to the hospital. I looked through the passageway and said, ‘You’ve got to stop that right now,’ ” recalls Greg Friese, a paramedic in central Wisconsin, who was treating a patient in the back. Mr. Friese also develops online training programs for medics, E.M.T.’s, police officers and firefighters.

“We’re dealing with the carnage, which ranges from the trivial to the tragic, of distracted driving,” he said. “We should know better.”

For police officers, there are reasons to constantly be checking a dashboard computer. They might check a license plate of a car they are tailing by using a keyboard to call up a screen, typing in the plate number, then reading more about the owner.

“There’s no way you could do this without eventually running into something,” said Officer Shawn Chase, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, as he demonstrated use of the Gateway computer in a cruiser. And yet, he said, he has tried it, and others have, too.

“The first time you almost rear-end something, you say, ‘Whoa, I better not do this,’ ” he said. “You learn quick.”

Researchers are working to reduce the risk. At the University of New Hampshire, backed by $34 million in federal financing, they have been developing hands-free technology for police cars.

The systems let officers use voice commands to operate the radio, lights and sirens and even speak a license-plate number into the on-board computer, which can then announce through a speaker basic information about the car. To activate voice commands, the officer must push a button on the steering wheel.

“I can literally drive down the road, speak without holding the microphone, and turn on the lights and sirens without ever looking at the equipment,” said Captain John G. LeLacheur of the New Hampshire State Police, who has driven one of the 1,000 police cruisers nationwide, mostly in New Hampshire and other Northeast states, equipped with the new technology.

Mr. LeLacheur said it sometimes failed to pick up his voice. “If it’s not doing what I want, I bypass it and do things the old-fashioned way,” he said.

Another system uses digital video systems that can automatically read license plates in front of and behind police cruisers, and then check for things like unregistered plates and stolen vehicles.

The solutions aren’t cheap, particularly for struggling state and local governments. A license-plate reader system from Panasonic can cost $8,000 for each car, including a $3,000 to $5,000 laptop.

“We can barely get patrol cars and motorcycles,” said Mr. Chase of the California Highway Patrol. Referring to the hands-free devices, he said, “We’ve love to get this technology, but there are trade-offs.”

 
if (PLATFORM.EventMan) PLATFORM.EventMan.triggerEvent('WNStoryRelatedBoxdone'); MURRELLS INLET, SC (WMBF) - The driver of a car that rear-ended a Horry County Fire Rescue ambulance in Murrells Inlet Tuesday night died early Wednesday morning, according to officials.

Accident investigators with the South Carolina Highway Patrol say a car rear-ended the ambulance just around 10:30 p.m. on US-17 Bypass in the area of Tournament Boulevard.

Horry County Chief Deputy Coroner Tamara Willard said the driver of the car, Stephen Pelet, 35, of Coatesville, PA, was flown to the Medical University of South Carolina in serious condition, where he was pronounced dead at 1:28 a.m. Wednesday. Willard said he died from multiple injuries caused by the crash.

The people on board the ambulance were taken to an area hospital as a precautionary measure.

Copyright 2010 WMBF News. All rights reserved.

By Tammy Dunn

The Tuesday into Wednesday snow sent many vehicles slipping and sliding off the road last Wednesday; however, that was not what caused a Montgomery County ambulance to wreck just a couple of miles into Stanly County. The cause of the wreck remains unknown.

The ambulance was on its way to Stanly County for a commitment when it crossed the centerline, ran off the road, collided with a fence and ended up in a pasture. It is unclear what made the driver cross the centerline.

The driver, Joseph Gobrush, was treated at FirstHealth Moore Regional and is back on the job. The attendant, Elizabeth Cloninger, was also transported to FirstHealth Moore Regional where she underwent surgery. She has not returned to work as of yet. The passenger was not injured in the accident.

State Highway Patrol Officer Clent Stevens investigated the accident and said no charges are expected.

Maryland State Police are investigating an accident involving an emergency vehicle.

Authorities responded to a motor vehicle crash at the intersection of Chancellors Run and Great Mills Road in Lexington Park around 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday, March 9.

Investigation revealed a Lexington Park ambulance stopped at a traffic light was struck by a red Ford Escort. Witnesses on the scene describe a black male running from the crash scene, while two additional occupants of the vehicle remained on site, but were not able to communicate to the officers who the driver of the vehicle was.

After further investigation, the driver of the vehicle hopped into the back seat and claimed to be a passenger. The driver was later identified as 29-year-old, Clifton Dion Briscoe.

The man observed fleeing the crash scene was a passenger but is wanted by police. That subject was not located and remains on the loose.

Police notified the registered owner of the vehicle and the owner claims she allowed her mother to borrow the vehicle. No word on the connection between the suspected driver and the owner or owner's mother.

No injuries were reported. There were no patients inside the ambulance at the time of the crash.

No exterior damage to the ambulance was visible, but rescue crews were having a hard time opening one of the side doors. 

This accident remains under investigation. 

The driver, Clifton Dion Briscoe was charged with the following:

* Failure to Control Vehicle Speed on Highway to avoid collision
* Driving Vehicle in Excess of Reasonable and Prudent Speed on Highway
* Negligent Driving
* (Driving, Attempting to Drive) Vehicle While Impaired by Drugs or Alcohol or Alcohol and Drugs
* (Driving, Attempting to Drive) Vehicle While Impaired by Alcohol
* (Driving, Attempting to Drive) Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol

by Ross Lidbetter

ross.lidbetter@essnmedia.co.uk

Two ambulance crew members have been taken to hospital after a van struck their vehicle this afternoon (Tuesday).

The incident happened outside St Joseph's College for Boys, in Beulah Hill, Upper Norwood.

Medics had been called around 1.20pm to reports of a road accident and one ambulance crew was sent to the scene.

A spokesman for the London Ambulance Service said: "While our staff were treating a patient in the back of the ambulance it appears to have been struck by another vehicle.
"A second ambulance was called to take the original patient - a man in his 40s - to King's College Hospital.

"Two members of staff were taken to St George's Hospital as a precaution with minor injuries.

"There were no other patients requiring hospital treatment."

The man in his 40s is believed to have suffered a leg injury in the first accident.

By Bongani Mdakane
The Sunday Times

ROODEPOORT, South Africa — Two paramedics were hijacked and reportedly raped in Roodepoort, west of Johannesburg, while responding to an emergency call.

Joburg Emergency Management Services spokesman Nana Radebe said the ambulance carrying the paramedics was hijacked on Friday night on Main Reef Road, near Durban Roodepoort Deep Mine.

She said that both paramedics were raped, but police said that the attackers only attempted to rape the second woman. Radebe said: ''The two paramedics are receiving continuous support from our chaplaincy services, and the emotional support services has also been extended to their families ..."

Radebe said response vehicles would be fitted with panic buttons.

Provincial police spokesman Senior Superintendent Noxolo Kweza said the police were hunting three suspects in connection with the attack.

Copyright 2010 BDFM Publishers PTY Ltd.
All Rights Reserved

By Jeff Waters, Democrat Reporter
 

An O'Brien man allegedly threatened to shoot rescue workers who were treating his wife after they were called by a neighbor. Eighty-three year old James "Brownie" Curley Bass also threatened to shoot his wife, a neighbor and a sheriff's deputy, according to a report filed by Sheriff's Deputy Sheriff David Allen.

On Sunday Bass reportedly "disabled all the telephones at the residence" he and his 85-year-old wife shared in O'Brien. Meanwhile, Bass was said to be holding his wife inside against her will. When Bass fell asleep, the wife tried to escape to a neighbor so he could call for help.

The neighbor found Bass's wife lying in the yard and called 9-1-1, according to the report. Allen said that Bass then stood over his wife and pointed a 9 mm pistol at her and the neighbor.

"Defendant stated to neighbor and wife he would kill both of them and anyone who tried to take away him or his wife while pointing the gun at them," Allen reported.

When emergency workers arrived, Bass reportedly put the pistol in a holster wrapped around his neck and under his left arm. Allen reported that Bass "told a paramedic/firefighter that he would shoot him and anyone else there. I arrived and ordered the defendant to lay the weapon down and he refused. Defendant told me two times that he would shoot me."

Allen said he had to grab Bass's right hand and push the pistol away from him several times before he was finally able to handcuff him.

Bass was arrested and charged with aggravated assault (domestic violence), aggravated assault, assault on a law enforcement officer and EMT official, assault on a person over the age of 65 and false imprisonment.

  By ART CAREY

Daniel McIntosh, those who knew him say, died the way he lived - serving others, preferring to speak with deeds rather than words. A full-time paramedic, part-time police officer, and volunteer firefighter, McIntosh, 39, suffered an apparent heart attack Sunday night while chasing a man who was threatening to commit suicide, police said. 

"He was a good guy who would do anything for anybody," said Thomas Topley, executive director of Bensalem Emergency Medical Services, where McIntosh was a paramedic for 13 years. Bensalem Township police said that about 7 p.m. Sunday, a 911 call was received from the family of a mentally ill man who was threatening to harm himself. 

McIntosh, who was working an overtime shift, and another medic responded to the call near Knights and Dunksferry Roads, according to Sgt. Andrew Aninsman. When McIntosh approached the man, he fled. Believing the man posed a danger to himself and others, McIntosh gave chase for several blocks, collapsed, and died. He apparently injured his head when he fell. His own rescue squad took McIntosh to Aria Health-Torresdale Campus, where he was pronounced dead. The man who fled was caught shortly after 7 p.m. and taken to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation. Police would not reveal his name or the name of the institution where he was hospitalized. 

McIntosh was married and the father of two daughters, ages 1 and 5. He was a tactical medic for the Bucks County South SWAT team and had recently been hired as a part-time police officer by Hulmeville Borough, police said. He was also a volunteer firefighter for the Point Pleasant Fire Department in Upper Bucks County, according to rescue squad associates. 

At a news conference yesterday, Bensalem's public safety director, Frederick Harran, said that some boys dream of growing up to become a police officer, a firefighter, or a paramedic. McIntosh managed to become all three. At rescue squad headquarters and the Bensalem municipal complex, flags flew at half-staff yesterday. The rescue squad vehicle-bay doors were draped with black bunting. His colleagues remembered McIntosh as a doting father who was proud of his daughters and a dedicated colleague. "If you were having a down day, he could put a smile on your face," said David Pugh, 29, a fellow paramedic. "He was the kind of guy you'd want for a friend or neighbor, the kind of guy you wanted to be around." 

"As a supervisor and friend, he was somebody I could always rely on," said Chris Adams, 39, the squad's battalion chief. "As big a guy as he was," Adams said, "he had an even bigger heart." 

Contact staff writer Art Carey at 610-313-8106 or  acarey@phillynews.com . 

 
Police say a 58-year-old Lawton driver caused several accidents Monday night on M-43 in Almena Township, before his own vehicle rolled several times, killing him.

A Van Buren County Sheriff's Department officers news release indicates Everett Painter's1995 Saturn first struck a Coloma EMS Ambulance in the 23000 block of M-43 at 8:30 p.m.
 

Within a few blocks, police said Painter's car, going at a high rate of speed, struck three other cars before he lost control of his own vehicle.

His car rolled several times and crashed into a garage in the 30000 block of M-43. He was trapped in the car and extricated by Paw Paw firefighters. Painter was pronounced dead at the scene.

Occupants in the house attached to the garage were not injured, police said. Neither were the ambulance driver nor a Coloma EMS staff member who was a passenger.

A 40-year-old Portage man, Jay Oakley, was taken to Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo with neck and back injuries. A hospital spokesman told WSBT Oakley was treated and later released.

Police are still investigating all of the accidents.

The Tribune is not automatically publishing Web comments on this article. If you wish to comment, send an e-mail to comments@sbtinfo.com.


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By Janis Mara

var requestedWidth = 0;
if(requestedWidth > 0){ document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.width = requestedWidth + "px"; document.getElementById('articleViewerGroup').style.margin = "0px 0px 10px 10px"; } An ambulance swerved out of control and hit a light pole near Fitzgerald Drive in Pinole Sunday afternoon, putting the light pole out of commission but causing no injuries, police said.

The American Medical Response ambulance was responding to an emergency call at a nearby Motel 6 at 1:31 p.m. with sirens on and lights flashing when the eastbound driver lost control on a small curve and hit the median strip, bringing a light pole down across two lanes of traffic, Pinole police Sgt. Tim Cauwels said.

The crash popped a tire, crumpled the door and damaged the bumper on the driver's side of the ambulance, but the driver was unhurt, Cauwels said. Traffic was diverted briefly and a new ambulance was dispatched to the motel.


 

A Bensalem, Pennsylvania Paramedic died Sunday night after being attacked by a man he was responding to help, police and local media report.


At about 7 p.m. Sunday, EMS and police units were dispatched to a male with a reported mental illness (initially reported by WPVI as a possible suicidal subject), and at some point during interaction with the victim the paramedic was attacked. The medic, not yet identified, was pronounced dead at an area hospital.

Police Sergeant Andrew Aninsman told KYW Newsradio that medics arrived before police and they were approached by the subject. The Trentonian reported late Sunday that the medic was stabbed, however other media outlets were reporting that no weapon was involved. An interview on NBC Philadelphia with police Sgt. Andrew Aninsmanie reported that medics approached the individual and one of the medics sustained a 'severe injury' but that no weapon was believed to be involved. The individual was reported to have been fleeing the scene at the time of the encounter with the medic.

PhillyFireNews.com is reporting that the medic is from Bensalem Emergency Medical Services in Bucks County. The incident happened in the 2600 block of Kiansas Street. The medic reportedly has been with the organization since 1998.

PFN's News Editor Steve Skipton reports that the Public Safety Director is requesting the victim's  name not be released at this time, and JEMS is following that request. Additional information is expected to be released late Monday morning.

The 37-year-old medic is married with two daughters.

"Sometimes you just don't know what is going to happen," Skipton told users of the site's forum Sunday night. "I teach new EMT's and preach scene safety on every response well this brings that point home that no calls are 'routine'. Be safe"

Police say the unidentified suspect has a history of mental illness and is being evaluated at a hospital, according to the Associated Press.

JEMS.com will have further details on this story as new information becomes available.
 

Chris Doyle vaguely remembers being rolled into the ER at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center.






It's the same hospital where he, an EMT with a private ambulance company, routinely drops off and picks up patients.

Doyle, 22, was on the stretcher this time, bleeding badly from a crash at the corner of Virginia Avenue and 25th Street.

He doesn't remember anything from the wreck. 

"The last thing I remember from driving is us passing Indian River State College," he says.

Ft. Pierce Police are still investigating why an SUV driven by 63-year old Germaine Lindor slammed into the side of the ambulance.  Lindor died in the crash.

The SUV plowed into the passenger door, Doyle's side of the ambulance.  The impact spun him in the seat and mangled his left leg.

Trauma surgeons made the decision to amputate his leg from the knee down.

"Nobody would be really happy about having this happen, but I'm happy that I'm alive," he says.  "I've had a couple doctors tell me that I could have died."

Doyle hopes to become a paramedic, plans that may be put on hold for a while as he recovers. 

He wants to be fitted with a prosthetic and continue with his education.

Doyle wants to be the one responding to crashes.

"I've only had one lights and sirens call since I've been there and that was a lot of fun and I look forward to doing more of that on a regular basis maybe," he says, smiling.

   
Durham, N.C. — An ambulance driver responding to a call was speeding when her vehicle ran off N.C. Highway 751 and overturned Saturday morning, injuring herself and an emergency medical technician, state troopers said.

Troopers said that Amanda Vanschaack, 21, of Pittsboro, was driving the ambulance belonging to Johnston Ambulance Service between 65 and 70 mph on N.C. 751 South, near the Durham-Orange county line. The speed limit there is 55 mph.

Vanschaack took a curve too fast, troopers said, and the ambulance ran off the right side of the road, struck a ditch and overturned several times.

Two off-duty Rockingham County EMS personnel passed by the wreck and got Vanschaack and EMT Henry Daniel out of the ambulance, officials said. The EMS workers treated and stabilized Vanschaack and Daniel using equipment from the wrecked ambulance.

Vanschaack was being treated at Duke Medical Center Saturday afternoon. Daniel, 26, of Roxboro, has been treated and released from Duke.

Troopers said they will not file charges because the ambulance crew was responding to a call when they wrecked.

There was not a patient in the ambulance, and Vanschaack and Daniel were both wearing seat belts.

A representative for Johnston Ambulance Service said they have no comment at this time.

• Reporter: Renee Chou
• Photographer: Greg Hutchinson
• Web Editor: Anne Johnson

Copyright 2010 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.