Credit: Polk County Sheriff’s Office
A pickup truck crashed into an ambulance at “highway speed” Monday night, leaving a paramedic and the patient who was riding in the back of the ambulance in critical condition, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
It happened just after 8:30 p.m. on U.S. Highway 27 and Lucerne Park Road (State Road 544) in Winter Haven.
EMT Eryn Orduna was driving the ambulance, a 2019 Freightliner, westbound on Lucerne Park Road out of Haines City, heading to a Winter Haven hospital. There was a patient on a gurney in the back with paramedic John Parris.
With emergency lights and sirens activated, deputies said Orduna slowed down as she approached a red light and looked both ways before proceeding into the intersection.
At the same time, Yandy Baez was driving a black Ford F450 pulling a trailer. Deputies say he drove into the intersection at highway speed, crashing into the ambulance on the right front side.
The crash sent the ambulance 60 feet southwest, where it landed in the grass shoulder. The pickup truck went about 15 feet southwest and landed across the middle and outside lanes of southbound U.S. Highway 27.
Photos show both the truck and the ambulance heavily damaged, with shattered windshields, twisted tires and parts of both vehicles completely crushed.
Paramedic John Parris was thrown from his seat in the back of the ambulance and suffered significant injuries. Both Parris and the patient were transported to the hospital and remain in critical condition.
Both Orduna and Baez were also taken to local hospitals. Orduna has since been released and Baez is expected to make a full recovery.
U.S. Highway 27 was closed for five hours during the investigation, which is ongoing.
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Source: wtsp
