Two Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District employees and the patient they were transporting for medical treatment were seriously injured Sunday afternoon (July 12) in a two-vehicle accident on I-55 north of Hwy. Z near Pevely, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
In addition, a 60-year-old Arnold woman was arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated following the crash, which also left her hurt, the report said.
At about 1:50 p.m., the Arnold woman was driving a 1998 Jeep Grand Cherokee north on the interstate and traveled from one lane into another, striking the left side of a 2012 Freightliner M160 ambulance driven by Gregory G. Maguire, 61, of Festus. The impact caused the ambulance to run off the left side of the road and strike the guardrail and then travel into the grass median, where it struck a cable median barrier and overturned, the report said.
Maguire and the patient, Gary L Randolph, 48, Herculaneum, were taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital South in south St. Louis County. JPAD paramedic Erik R. Bedwell, 27, of Imperial was taken by helicopter to Mercy Hospital St. Louis in Creve Coeur.
The Arnold woman was moderately injured and taken by ambulance to Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City.
“The (JPAD) driver suffered a lower back injury and is undergoing surgery this afternoon,” JPAD Administrator Curt Stueve said today (July 13). “Doctors expect him to make a full recovery. The paramedic in back suffered thoracic fractures throughout his spine. He underwent surgery yesterday attempting to repair those fractures. He does have some spinal cord damage. We don’t know the prognosis on him at this time.
“The patient suffered a fractured leg. He was being transported for medical care. His condition is not known.”
Stueve said he is very concerned about the patient who was being transported, the JPAD employees and the rest of the staff.
“We just want to make sure we keep them in our thoughts and prayers and, also their co-workers,” he said. “It’s a tough time for them, also.”
All those involved in the accident were wearing seat belts or using other safety devices except the paramedic, who was listed as exempt from using one, the patrol reported.
The ambulance was totaled, and the Cherokee was extensively damaged, the report said.
The patrol arrested the Arnold woman at 2:27 p.m. at the hospital for an alleged DWI and three counts of alleged assault.
Her name will not be published unless charges are filed against her, and as of this evening, none had been filed.