One dead in ambulance crash

Driver suffered from unknown medical condition, Ohio Highway Patrol says

One person died in a March 15 crash involving an ambulance that slid into a ravine on Liberty Avenue east of Sunnyside Road in Vermilion, according to the Ohio Highway Patrol.

David McNeil, 76, of Vermilion, was pronounced dead at the scene. McNeil was a patient with an unknown medical condition who was being transported to Lorain’s MercyHealth Hospital, the OHP said.

A 49-year-old female EMT of Collins, Ohio, who was attending to the patient, was transported with serious, but non-life threatening injuries and was flown by medical helicopter to the University of Toledo Medical Center, the OHP said.

The 26-year-old male driver of the ambulance was suffering from an unknown medical condition and was transported MercyHealth, according to the OHP

Troopers were called to the scene at 12:41 p.m. after the ambulance was witnessed driving erratically before sliding into the ravine, according to the OHP.

“I hope the survivors recover and the investigation is in the hands of people who certainly know what they’re doing.” — Vermilion Mayor Jim Forthofer

The crash appears to have been caused by the driver suffering an unknown medical condition while operating the ambulance, the OHP stated.

U.S. Route 6 was closed for several hours just west of Baumhart Road while responders removed the ambulance from the ravine. The Vermilion Police Department announced the road had been reopened at 5:17 p.m.

Highway Patrol Lt. Brett Gockstetter said the family of the deceased patient was traveling directly behind the ambulance when it veered off the right side of road and over the guardrail into the ravine and overturned.

“It’s very devastating,” Gockstetter said. “Obviously, it could have been worse, but there was two other people in there.

“There was a family traveling behind them who unfortunately

had to witness this. You can imagine seeing something like that.”

The crash remains under investigation.

“Obviously we’re going to look into all aspects of that,” Gockstetter said.

Witnesses reported to investigators the ambulance was driving erratically for about two miles starting from near the 4700 block of Liberty Avenue to the intersection with Helen Drive.

Gockstetter said the patient and the nurse did not appear to be restrained in the ambulance, but no one was ejected from the vehicle.

However, it appears the cot the patient was being transported on may have come loose, he said.

“With any situation where a first-responder is hurt or a first response effort goes bad, everyone’s affected because we rely so heavily on them,” said Mayor Jim Forthofer. “You feel for them, you respect what they do and then when they have a cataclysmic problem like this, it effects everyone.”

For police and emergency medical technicians, their jobs require them to be moving all the time, Forthofer said.

The shocking nature of the crash “is one of those things that everybody gets up from whatever they’re doing and says, ‘Oh, my God,’ ” he said.

“I hope the survivors recover and the investigation is in the hands of people who certainly know what they’re doing,” Forthofer said. “We’ll all be looking for whatever those answers are.”

The Milan-based North Central EMS is a nonprofit health service corporation dedicated to the provision of emergency and non-emergency medical service, ambulette service and dispatch service, according to its mission statement posted at northcentralems.com. “We operate on a nonprofit basis for the benefit of the residents of our surrounding communities,” the mission statement said.

North Central EMS serves the region ranging from Vermilion,

Vermilion Township and Brownhelm Township west to the areas around Norwalk, Port Clinton and Bellevue, according to its website.

The company has a Vermilion station at 1011 Douglas St. Construction on that facility began in 2010.

North Central EMS contracts with the city of Vermilion to provide emergency medical response for residents there, said Councilwoman Barb Brady, who is chairwoman of Council’s Health and Safety Committee.

Brady said the city and North Central EMS have worked together at least 12 years, the length of time she has served on council.

For years, North Central EMS had its station on Liberty Avenue just east of the Ritter Public Library.

That building was razed in 2011 and now is the site is Vermilion’s Friendship Park.

Staff Writer Richard Payerchin contributed to this article.