BROOKVILLE — Two people were hurt and an Ellsworth County ambulance was heavily damaged Tuesday morning when the ambulance collided with a flatbed truck hauling a large, round bale of hay on Kansas Highway 140, just west of Brookville.
According to the Kansas Highway Patrol, the ambulance, driven by Jeremiah Brown, 34, of Great Bend, was eastbound on K-140 behind a Ford F-350 pickup driven by Donald Goddard, 52, of Brookville. Goddard started to make a left turn into a field as the ambulance was attempting to pass, and the ambulance hit the pickup on the left side.
The lights and siren on the ambulance were active at the time of the crash, according to Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Rodney Evinger.
The crash occurred about 8:40 a.m. The highway was closed to traffic for about an hour following the crash, as officers with the KHP and the Saline County Sheriff’s Office investigated and the debris was cleared.
Driver pinned in ambulance
Brown was pinned in the cab of the ambulance for a time. He was freed by crews from the Salina Fire Department and taken by ambulance to Salina Regional Health Center.
Also taken to the hospital were paramedic Ricky Soukup, 49, of Ellsworth, who had been riding in the back of the ambulance, and Kathryn Whitmer, 57, of Wilson, who was being transported in the ambulance.
Evinger said Whitmer did not appear to have been injured in the crash.
Goddard was not injured, according to the patrol report.
All four people involved in the crash were wearing seat belts, according to the patrol report.
A Salina Regional spokesman said Brown had been transferred to Via Christi St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, and Whitmer was in serious condition in the intensive care unit at Salina Regional. Soukup was treated in the emergency department at Salina Regional but wasn’t admitted to the hospital.
— Reporter Mike Strand can be reached at 822-1418 or by email at [email protected].
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