Authorities on Monday continued investigating the cause of a collision between an East Alabama Medical Center ambulance and another vehicle Friday, said Sgt. Steven Jarrett, Alabama Department of Public Safety public information/ education unit commander.
Troopers responded to a two-vehicle crash involving a 1993 Buick and a 2008 ambulance on Alabama Highway 51 at 6:10 a.m. Friday.
The driver of the Buick, James Welch of Opelika, sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the accident, Jarrett said. Welch was airlifted to Columbus Regional Medical Center in Georgia as a precautionary measure.
The driver of the ambulance, Kurt Hendricks of Brewton, sustained an arm injury in the crash, was treated and has since returned to duty, said John Atkinson, EAMC manager of public relations. Hendricks and a second EMT were transporting a patient to the hospital at the time of the crash.
The second EMT, whose name was not provided by troopers, was unrestrained while working with a patient in the rear of the ambulance. The EMT suffered a fractured neck and vertebrae in the crash, was initially treated at EAMC before being transferred to Columbus and is currently on medical leave, Atkinson said.
The patient being treated in the ambulance was properly restrained and did not sustain any injuries in the crash. That patient was treated and released later that same day Friday, Atkinson said.
The last accident with a fatality involving an EAMC ambulance took place in 1981, Atkinson said.
