By Jess Rollins
State troopers continue to investigate the cause of a head-on ambulance crash that injured three and killed the patient.
Also injured was the driver of a dump truck who swerved to avoid slowing traffic and into the ambulance’s path just before impact.
Missouri State Highway Patrol spokesman Sgt. Jason Pace said that the dump truck driver, Royce Hutchison, 74, of Stockton, swerved into the eastbound lane of Missouri 32 Friday afternoon, but the preliminary investigation shows distance was not a factor in the crash.
“He had enough sight distance to foresee this traffic slowing down,” Pace said.
Pace said several vehicles were slowing down and pulling over ahead of Hutchison in the westbound lane as an ambulance — lights and sirens activated — headed eastbound.
As Hutchison approached the line of cars, Hutchison locked up the brakes and swerved.
Pace added the dump truck was traveling up-hill and was not carrying a load.
It is unlikely Hutchison saw the ambulance that was about to crest the hill, Pace said.
The speed of the dump truck and other factors are still under investigation.
“All that will take awhile,” Pace said.
The full investigation, conducted by the highway patrol’s Major Crash Team, will take around two months to complete, Pace said.
Roy Harms, Polk County Coroner, said the ambulance’s patient, James Pettibone, 67, of Springfield, likely died as a result of the crash.
Harms pronounced Pettibone dead at 1:25 p.m.
The ambulance driver, Mike Albright, 48, of Ash Grove, was seriously injured but remained in stable condition Monday.
Two other occupants in the ambulance received moderate injuries, according to a highway patrol crash report.
