Published: August 18, 2008 11:26 pm            

Teen injured in crash with ambulance

Mo-ped hit Converse EMS unit on emergency run

For the second time in two days, the rider of a two-wheeled motorized vehicle was seriously injured in a wreck on Kokomo streets.

A 14-year-old male riding a mo-ped crashed into a Converse ambulance at the intersection of Markland Avenue and Apperson Way at 6:42 p.m.

Witnesses said the mo-ped driver, who was going north on Apperson Way, had the green light, but the west-bound ambulance was running with lights and siren on its way to St. Joseph Hospital.

The rider of the mo-ped was wearing a helmet, which may have impeded his ability to hear the ambulance, but the helmet came off during the crash.

Standing at his motorcycle in the Advance Auto Parts parking lot on the southeast corner of the intersection, Troy Ward said he could see the wreck developing and there was nothing he could do.

“I heard the ambulance coming down Markland and I saw [the mo-ped driver] coming up Apperson there by Gold Fever. ... I was standing here screaming at him. I knew it was inevitable, but he didn’t hear me because he had a helmet on,” Ward said.

Another ambulance was called to take the Converse patient to the hospital. No one in the ambulance was injured although the driver was taken to the hospital for a drug test. That, Kokomo Police officer Orville Harness said, was required due to the severity of the crash.

The teen boy was transported to St. Joseph by Howard Regional Health System paramedics and no information on his injuries was available. He was not being identified until his family had been notified.

Witnesses disagreed as to whether the ambulance slowed before heading into the intersection.

“The ambulance didn’t slow down. It didn’t do nothing,” Ward said. “Kokomo police cars and ambulances — they slow down when they come up on a red light before going through. That ambulance didn’t slow down one bit.”

Stopped in his car at the light, Dean Glunt was going east on Markland and saw the ambulance coming. He believes the ambulance driver slowed.

“It looked to me like the ambulance slowed. I saw the front end bow down a couple of times,” he said.

Glunt, however, wasn’t sure if the ambulance driver ever saw the mo-ped.

“The way the sun was setting, I don’t think the ambulance could see him. The mo-ped was yellow and [the driver] was wearing a yellow helmet,” he explained. “I don’t think the driver of the mo-ped saw the ambulance either. He was going at a high rate of speed. If he braked, it had to be for a second at the most.”

Ward believed the mo-ped driver saw the ambulance at the last instant.

“[The mo-ped driver] saw it in just enough time to hit his brakes, starting right about the crosswalk. He slid into it and hit the front tire. The ambulance went over him and he was stuck underneath [the vehicle],” Ward said.

Early Sunday evening, a Kokomo woman riding a pocket bike crashed into a PT Cruiser on North Wabash Avenue. She suffered serious head injuries and was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

The wreck upset Ward, who also was in the area of Sunday’s crash.

“I’ve seen friends killed on bikes and now I think I just saw a boy killed on a mo-ped,” he said. “[Sunday night] I made my bike really loud so people can hear me coming.”

The intersection was closed for nearly three hours while it was cleaned and officers investigated the crash.

Anyone with information about the wreck is asked to contact Kokomo Police at (765) 459-5101.

John Dempsey may be contacted at (765) 854-6739 or by e-mail at john.dempsey@kokomotribune.com

        

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