From the Chronicle-Telegram
GRAFTON TWP. — An elderly man was killed Wednesday afternoon after a collision with an ambulance that pulled into the intersection of state Route 303 and Island Road while rushing an injured man to an area hospital.
Zygmunt J. Pacyna, 82, of Hinckley Township in Medina County, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.
In addition, the three people in the ambulance — the driver, a firefighter/emergency medical technician and the patient — all were sent to area hospitals as a result of the crash.
The firefighter/EMT — Thomas Smolilo, 52, of Grafton — was tossed around the back of the ambulance from the crash’s impact. He and the patient, former Grafton Township trustee Robert Kowalski, who was secured on a cot and braced when the crash occurred, were treated and released from Medina General Meanwhile, the ambulance driver, Richard Robinson, 26, of Cleveland, was taken to EMH Regional Medical Center for treatment. On Wednesday evening, EMH said he was no longer a patient there.
The accident occurred just after noon after emergency workers responded to help Kowalski, 61, who had fallen 15 feet from the roof of his home at 16785 South Island Road.
After loading him into the ambulance, Robinson drove away from Kowalski’s home and headed toward Route 303 several hundred yards away with the ambulance’s lights and sirens activated, according to the patrol.
Troopers said the ambulance was traveling through the intersection when it collided with the 2001 Cavalier heading eastbound driven by Pacyna.
Bruce Bishop, a photographer for The Chronicle-Telegram who was on the scene, said he could see Pacyna’s car coming down the road because the view is unobstructed. As Bishop approached the intersection, he never saw Pacyna’s car slow down as the ambulance pulled out.
“It’s totally open up there,” said Bishop, who worked as an emergency medical technician and dispatcher for LifeCare Ambulance Service for 10 years before joining The Chronicle. “The (ambulance) squad slowed and made the turn to go left onto 303, but the car never slowed, never wavered. It just crashed into the front end of the ambulance.”
The impact wedged the two vehicles together and the rest of the Grafton Township crew that still was at Kowalski’s house quickly came to the crash site. Pacyna was trapped in his car, which had to be cut open to free him, and he had suffered grievous head injuries, said Bishop, who arrived at the accident scene first and checked the conditions of the injured.
Lorain County Coroner Dr. Paul Matus said Pacyna died of multiple blunt-force traumas.
Inside the ambulance, Smolilo had been thrown over the cot on which Kowalski was laying and was complaining of hip injuries and said he recently had a hip replacement surgery, Bishop said. Kowalski, however, appeared to be all right as he already was wearing a neck brace and was restrained to limit his movement as a result of the fall.
“He was complaining more about being hot in the ambulance — he just wanted to get out of (there),” Bishop said.
The driver, Robinson, was shaken but didn’t seem to be severely hurt, Bishop said.
A woman who answered the phone at the Kowalski residence Wednesday declined to comment.
Ohio law requires that all vehicles give right of way to a public safety vehicle with its lights flashing and/http://chronicle.northcoastnow.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpor siren on. The law does not exempt drivers of said vehicles from “the duty to drive with due regard for the safety of all persons and property.”
According to an Ohio law that went into effect in 2004, emergency vehicles are required to slow down as necessary for safety and “proceed cautiously” through a stop sign or red light. There are stop signs for drivers on Island Road, but no stop signs or lights on 303.
A Lorain County ambulance driver, Michael Montecalvo, was sentenced to two to 10 years in prison after being convicted of involuntary manslaughter for a 1989 crash that killed 20-yearold Lorain resident Angela Robinson.
The investigation into Wednesday’s crash is continuing, the Highway Patrol reported Wednesday night.
Grafton Township Fire Chief Bob Richards was unavailable for comment.
The Chronicle’s Bruce Bishop, Rona Proudfoot and Melissa Hebert contributed to this report.
