Mother in ambulance crash seeks redress

When Courtney Robertson came to on the floor of a crashed St John ambulance, covered in glass, her first thought was for 21-month-old son Harrison.

‘‘I woke up on the floor and just started screaming, where’s my baby?’’ she said after Wednesday’s crash on Mana Esplanade, near Porirua.

‘‘It was unreal. I didn’t know what was happening.’’

Harrison was being transferred to Wellington Hospital from Palmerston North for a minor surgical procedure when the ambulance mounted a kerb and hurtled through a metal barrier on State Highway 1.

‘‘It was like being in this tin room, basically, and being thrown around with all this stuff,’’ the 22-year-old mum said.

Harrison, who had been asleep when the crash happened, was uninjured, as was the ambulance driver, but Robertson needed stitches in her head.

She praised the people who rushed to help after the crash. ‘‘The public were amazing; if it wasn’t for one man who jumped in, I wouldn’t have been able to get Harrison out of his car seat.’’

Though she held no ill will towards the driver, she wanted someone from St John to help her understand how such a crash could happen. ‘‘We definitely will be seeking some compensation for the car seat and personal belongings that were damaged and lost, and for the trauma as well.’’

She and Harrison were kept in hospital overnight and, after Harrison’s surgery the next day, they were taken home by Robertson’s mother, who drove down from Palmerston North.

St John district operations manager Steve Yanko said the organisation deeply regretted the incident. ‘‘We’ve been been trying to make contact with the patient’s family, and will continue to do so.

‘‘We’re sorry to hear that their belongings were damaged, and we’ll be seeing how we can help with this when we are able to speak with them.’’