A Rowan County Emergency Medical Service driver has been charged with exceeding safe speed in the wreck of a ambulance Saturday evening.
Kenneth Lee Goforth, 39, a paramedic, who was driving the 1997 Freightliner unit on Bell Farm Road, was charged by N.C. Highway Patrol Sgt. G.H. Tolbert.
Goforth and Assistant Shift Manager Timothy Martin, who was attending a patient in the rear of the unit, are both out on medical leave.
Family members of the patient who was being transported, Salena Carrole Hall, 40, of 300 Academy St., Apt. 57, say she sustained numerous injuries.
County Emergency Services Director Wayne Ashworth said this morning that he has not seen the wreck report. Ashworth stood by his earlier comments that it does not appear the ambulance rolled over. He said the damage on the left side indicates it went over on that side.
The EMS unit, scheduled to be replaced this year, is considered a total loss.
Hall’s daughter maintains that the ambulance rolled over four times.
But Sgt. Tolbert said witnesses including residents of the area said the ambulance made one complete roll over. “It certainly didn’t turn over four times. There’s not enough distance.”
Tolbert said there were no signs of reckless driving, but the driver diverted his attention momentarily to the radio and lost control. Tolbert said the ambulance was traveling 50 to 55 miles per hour. The posted speed limit is 45 mph.
The EMS unit had picked Hall up at her apartment on Academy Street in Cleveland.
Family members say Hall has suffered from panic attacks for the past five years and has been taken by ambulance to Columbia Davis Hospital in Statesville several times.
The unit was making a routine, non-emergency trip and followed a standard route to the hospital, going along U.S. 70 and then onto Bell Farm Road, which is a shortcut to Interstate 40.
Tolbert’s investigation showed that around 7:10 p.m. Saturday as the unit rounded a curve, Goforth said he was preoccupied with the radio and the vehicle went off the shoulder on the right.
As Goforth attempted to bring it back on to the road, the ambulance went out control onto the left shoulder and overturned.
The two EMS employees, patient Hall and Jeremy Reynolds, 21, of 310 Crawford Drive,Salisbury, were transported by Iredell EMS units to the hospital. Reynolds, a family friend, was sitting in the front passenger seat.
All four people were treated and released. The accident blocked the road for an hour.
Hall’s daughters, Kandy and Amber, who live with her, were following the EMS unit.
Kandy Hall said today that their mother suffered numerous bruises and a broken wrist. The wreck further aggravated an existing back condition, she said.
Kandy Hall and her sister maintain that the ambulance rolled over four times and that Reynolds pulled Salena Hall from the back of the wrecked EMS unit.
“It rolled over a whole hell of a lot more times than once,” she said.
“Jeremy got out and got mama out. She had come off the stretcher and was laying on top of the other paramedic,” said Kandy.
She said that prior to the wreck, the EMS unit went off the road onto the shoulder at least three times.
Ashworth said today that the county investigation is ongoing.
“We’re very concerned for the people who were hurt and will do everything that we can for our people, the patient and the passenger.
“It was an unfortunate accident. We’re sorry it happened. We will investigate it fully and take any action necessary,” he said.
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