A Florida EMT remains in a hospital intensive care unit after he was seriously injured while responding to a traffic accident over the weekend.
Osceola County EMT Dawson Rice, 21, was helping at the scene of a crash along when Orange Blossom Trail in Kissimmee on Sunday when he was struck by another vehicle, WOFL-TV reports. Rice's left arm and pelvis were fractured in multiple places, his bladder was ruptured, and he had his spleen removed.
“(The car) was in the slow lane, according to the police report, veered over into the median, and everyone tried to get out of the way, and he was going fast enough to where my son couldn’t get out of the way,” Rice's dad, Jeremy, told WOFL.
The vehicle's driver, Alex Shaw, 35, was cited for careless driving in the incident.
Since the accident, Rice's parents have not been able to see their son because of COVID-19 visitation restrictions at the hospital.
“Just knowing he’s down there at that hospital, all by himself, in the ICU. I could be sitting with him. I cry at night when I go to bed,” Rice's mother, Shannon, told WOFL.
In an online post wishing Rice "a speedy recovery," Osceola County Fire Rescue & EMS urged drivers to move over or slow down for emergency vehicles and at crash scenes. Rice's parents echoed those sentiments.
“These people are trying to save your life. Cut them a break. Pay attention," Jeremy Rice told WOFL. "If you see them on the side of the road with their lights lit up, I don’t care if you have to stop, turn around; just do it."
