By Ryan Seals – News & Record
GREENSBORO — An ambulance crash Tuesday that injured three Guilford County EMS workers occurred when the driver overcorrected after trying to change lanes.
According to a crash report released Wednesday, the driver of the ambulance, Benjamine Burton Washburn, was driving in the left lane of north N.C. 68 at about 12:17 p.m.
Washburn said he was attempting to move into the right lane to exit at West Market Street, but observed a vehicle in his side mirror.
He then swerved back into the left lane, drove into the median and flipped the ambulance onto its roof.
Washburn and the other employees in the ambulance, 28-year-old Leonardo Tolentino and 24-year old Candace Foust, were transported to Moses Cone Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The report states the ambulance was estimated to have been traveling 50 mph at the time of the crash.
The speed limit for that area is 55 mph.
No patients were in the ambulance at the time and no one else was injured.
Billy Livingston, operations manager for Guilford County EMS, said Washburn was in rookie school and the crew was on a training run when the accident occurred. Livingston said Washburn had only been with the department for a matter of months.
The crash report estimated damage to the vehicle at $25,000. However, an official with Guilford County EMS estimated the total loss to the agency as being six figures on Tuesday. Livingston said parts of the ambulance will be salvageable for future use.
The ambulance is 23 feet long, 9 feet 7 inches high and weighs 19,000 pounds.
It is unclear whether charges will be filed against Washburn. His age was not listed in the report.
Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or [email protected]
