Police: Ambulance Driver Fell Asleep, Causing Crash
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Updated: 8:09 PM Jan 4, 2008
Police: Ambulance Driver Fell Asleep, Causing Crash
Braxton County Sheriff's Deputies say the driver of an ambulance fell asleep at the wheel, causing a crash on I-79 that sent three crew members to the hospital.
Posted: 8:49 AM Jan 4, 2008
Reporter: WSAZ News Staff
Email Address: news@wsaz.com
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Braxton County (WV) Sheriff's Deputies say the driver of an ambulance fell asleep at the wheel, causing a crash on I-79 that sent three crew members to the hospital.

It happened at about 8:30am on Interstate 79 near the 51 mile marker.

The ambulance was with the Portsmouth Ambulance Service out of Flatwoods, Kentucky.

Sheriff's deputies tell WSAZ the driver, Virgil Cole, was getting ready to get off at the Frametown exit to switch drivers, when he fell asleep and hit the side of a bridge. No other cars were involved.

Cole's passengers and crew members were Jason Shimer and Rocky Messer, according to deputies, and none of their injuries are considered life threatening.

Walt Eldridge, general manager of Portsmouth Ambulance Service, tells us the crew dropped a patient off in Pittsburgh -- and was returning home. No patients were on board.

Eldridge says the company took the extra measure of adding a third crew member to help rotate drivers for the long drive from Ashland, Kentucky, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The crew left Ashland with the patient at about 11pm Thursday night, says Eldridge, and the trip was highly time sensitive with regard to the patient's condition.

Eldridge says that he's going to reiterate the company's policy to his staff that drivers should pull over any time they feel tired. He tells us that safety is always first priority.

Latest Comments

Posted by: Medic102 on Jan 22, 2008 at 08:58 AM

I hope all is going well with your recovery Rocky.Virgil and Jason, you guys are already on the road again, protecting these ungreatful people as usual.Without complaint on your behalf.I respect each of you.I have walked shoulder to shoulder with each of you into many hazardous situations.The general public hasn't a clue of what EMS does for them.All the public thinks of is Police and Firefighters.Truth is we all have a part in a rescue situation.But the final key is the person who saves your A!# on the way to the hospital.The people who initiat the proper treatment to save a life.But we are mostly forgotten.To below.Myself and Rocky are both members of management.We both go into the same situations as other crews daily, as we are part of the crew rotation. We get kicked, scratched and spit on by the same infected people that everyone else does.We do not ask someone to do something we are not willing to do ourselves.We are all equals.We are each links in a "SURVIVAL CHAIN."
Posted by: Megan on Jan 8, 2008 at 04:03 PM

All right people, I've read all the comments on this story ans agree with alot of it. We deserve better pay and shorter hours, but that's not going to happen, Why? Because we have to beg for every penny we get and that goes into better equipment and more training because every second things are changing and we need to keep up. As for the shorter hours, there aren't enough of us out there to make that possible. I was in a horrific ambulance accident 3 yrs ago when my driver fell asleep severly injuring my self and my patient and killing her mother who was in the front seat. I'm still recovering from my injuries and will never be back to what I was before. Accidents happen, mine did in the middle of the day and the driver hadn't worked the day before. I really glad the crew members of this ambulance are ok and I know what they are going through.
Posted by: Billing Bitches on Jan 8, 2008 at 09:21 AM

Just to respond to the comment left by the person that THOUGHT this was a run taken to get the money, CASH OR GOOD INSURANCE,I will tell u that this trip was taken by NOT knowing IF the INSURANCE would pay or NOT the billing dept was closed so therefore there was NO checking for payment, all there was was a manager making a decision to give someone a second chance at life. So before u jump to ur conclusions of reasoning find out the facts first u may find u r VERY much wrong. Private EMS cares more then what type of insurance u have, we all have family w/ no insurance and we all work for a living and U may b surprised to know there is a LOT of us that work w/ out insurance as well and hope that we would be given the same respect that this patient was given when the choice was made by management to take that patient and go out on that limb not knowing. Rocky I hope u get back to work soon I do miss u being a pain in my a..!!!LOL. Virgil and Jason I am glad u all are OK as well!!
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