PORTLAND, Ore. – The driver of the minivan that swerved into the path of an ambulance Thursday has a medical condition that could have caused the crash.
Beth Caulfield, 51, is still in critical condition at Oregon Health and Science University after the collision with the ambulance destroyed her van and heavily damaged the ambulance. Firefighters used the Jaws of Life to free Caulfield from her crumpled van.
The two paramedics in the ambulance were taken to the hospital and were treated and released. The patient they were transporting to a hospital for treatment of a broken hip, 90-year-old Mary Schollenberg, sustained a minor injury. She is doing OK.
Caulfield’s mother, Ruth Ormondroyd, says her daughter has spastic paraplegia which is a genetic neurological disorder that can cause spastic contractions in someone’s legs. She said her daughter suffered broken legs, ribs and pelvis and has some bleeding in the brain from the accident.
Ormondroyd said she’s confident her daughter’s condition is what caused her to speed right into the ambulance on a busy Beaverton Road.
She said her daughter stopped being able to walk just in the last year when her diseased progressed to the point that she had stiffening in her legs and had to use a wheelchair.
"I suspect she couldn’t get her foot off the accelerator," Ormondroyd said by phone from her California home Friday. "She has to lift up her leg in order to move it."
A sergeant with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office confirmed a medical condition is the No. 1 thing investigators are looking at as the cause of the crash. He said there was a wheelchair in the back of the minivan and that it had a handicapped placard.
According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Caulfield does have a current valid Oregon’s driver’s license with no health restrictions, even though DMV records have not been updated.
A neighbor of Caulfield said she keeps to herself and only drives occasionally. The almost head-on crash happened only two miles from her home.
