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Ambulance Driver Charged With Negligent Homicide

7 comments

Career-Ending Crash for Wrong-Laning Driver

THE EMSA AMBULANCE DRIVER in Oklahoma City who was involved in a fatal collision on December 10 has lost his job and been charged by police with negligent homicide.  (See Firegeezer video report on the accident HERE.)

Benjamin Ward Samples, 36, was charged Tuesday for the crash that resulted in the death of a man after Samples had driven in the oncoming lane at a high rate of speed to bypass traffic that was stopped ahead.  Investigators say that Samples moved over into the wrong-lane while responding to an emergency call.  The driver of the car was also in the left lane and began making a legal left turn which put him in the path of the ambulance.  The accident investigation revealed that Samples was traveling at 83 mph in a 40 mph zone.

KFOR-TV presents the details of this latest update in this video report:

 

State law allows an ambulance to travel at a speed not over 10 mph above the posted limit.  EMSA's rules prohibit driving faster than 15 mph when wrong-laning. 

Benjamin Samples

Samples had been working for EMSA for about a year, but he was hired with a spotty driving record carrying several traffic infraction in the past.

The Oklahoman has more details HERE.

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Posted by on December 21, 2011 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Topics, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances, Videos • Tagged: , ,
  • http://twitter.com/JohnKuczek John Kuczek

    Wait, what? “State law allows an ambulance to travel at a speed not over 10 mph above the posted limit.  EMSA’s rules prohibit driving faster than 15 mph when wrong-laning.” Since when is making a policy that conflicts with State law a good idea? Somebody at EMSA needs to do a critical review of their policies…

  • Dan Collins

    No conflict there. Ambulances may never drive more than 10 mph /OVER THE LIMIT/, /AT ANY TIME/. They may also never drive more than 15 mph /TOTAL/, /IN THE WRONG LANE/. No conflict here, unless the speed limit is less than 5 mph ;)

    Either way I think it’s obvious that when driving in the wrong lane, 83 mph, more than twice the limit, is always excessive and dangerous. If you’re going to cross the double yellow, you should have stopped, pulled out slowly, made sure there was no traffic coming, and proceeded slowly until it was clear to return to your lane.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_WTHOMHZSMJDKIBZ7CNEPYNWJVM Bob B

    I’m wondering how he managed to get up to 83mph in the first place. His partner should have said “Dude, SLOW DOWN” way before he got going that fast. Yikes….

  • Jwow2

    The man was on a way to a call. Depending on what type of call it was he might of made a good decision. If a kid was in cardiac arrest it v tech, he wants to save the child. 80 plus mph is crazy, but so is criminal charges

  • CHAOS

    I’d like you to give us a list of circumstances where a “good decision” involves going 80+ mph on the oncoming lane approaching an intersection,

  • CTmedic

    He clearly did not make a good decision, there wasn’t even a possibility of that being a good decision. He killed someone as a result. And if he was flying to a kid in, I’m assuming you’re trying to say “V tach”, well odds are the patient didn’t fair well either because another unit would have to have been started to that call, delaying the response time to the initial call even more. >80mph in the wrong lane in a 40mph area is insane. We all know drivers do odd things when an emergency vehicle is driving lights and sirens, and it is our job to navigate the roads safely. If we don’t do that, things like this happen and everyone loses. What the driver did was completely reckless with no due regard.

  • CTmedic

    Furthermore, as to it possibly being a “kid… in cardiac arrest it v tech”, it wasn’t. Per the link to the full article:
    “the ambulance was being driven to a priority two call, or one involving an emergency that is not life threatening.
    Read more: http://newsok.com/emsa-driver-charged-in-fatal-crash-fired/article/3633571#ixzz1iEI684B1″