FORESTVILLE, Md. — Prince George's County Fire/EMS officials have confirmed that the driver of an ambulance ran over a victim that the crew had been called to save during a pre-dawn snowstorm on Jan. 7. The victim survived, despite injuries to his "lower extremities", according to authorities.
Conditions were snowy and visibility was poor in Forestville, Maryland at the time, investigators said in reports filed at the time. The reports were not revealed publicly until questions from WUSA9.
Both a Prince George's County police investigation and an internal Fire/EMS department investigation are underway, according to spokespersons for both agencies.
“As part of our standard operating procedure, the Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department does not comment on open investigations," a written statement from the department explained.
According to dispatch records, a written police report of the incident, and statements from authorities, an ambulance was called to 4405 Rena Road in Forrestville at 5:12 a.m. on January 7 for a "welfare check" after a 9-1-1 call.
The victim was lying in the middle of the snowy road, according to a diagram in the police report. It was snowing, sleeting and freezing rain was falling.
“As our crews were responding to the scene, the patient was struck by the ambulance,” Prince George's County Fire/EMS spokesperson Veronica Marshall wrote in a statement to WUSA9. “According to testimony from our crews, as well as a review of dashcam footage, as the unit approached the scene, visibility was poor due to darkness, the wet, snowy road conditions, and high beams from opposing vehicles. The ambulance was traveling less than 10 miles per hour at the time of the accident, and there was no indication it had struck the patient prior to being flagged down by the 911 caller. When crews exited the ambulance, they immediately initiated medical care.”
According to dispatch records, the person was taken to a hospital in life-threatening condition by another ambulance. The police report noted that a man's “lower extremities” were struck as “a dispatched ambulance was in the areas searching for a subject.”
Residents like Liela Bond said the revelations concerned her.
"It's unfortunate," neighbor Liela Bond said. It shouldn't happen, They probably couldn’t see. Their vision was probably impaired."
Prince George’s County Fire/EMS authorities say the ambulance driver involved in the incident got a medical check up and passed a drug test.
Nearly six weeks after the accident, the victim in the case is alive and is in sub-acute rehabilitation, according to the department.
The department could not reveal what other medical conditions may be affecting the victim.