EMS officials say a patient tried to climb out of the back of an ambulance Monday just before a violent crash sent seven people to the hospital.
The crash took place at about 2:30 p.m. in the eastbound lanes of I-264 near Bells Lane on a route from a dentist office in the Shawnee neighborhood to Norton Audubon hospital.
EMT Kristopher Haeberlin pulled over to help his colleague, EMT Christopher Barrett, calm the patient. Just as they'd secured her back on the stretcher, police say a Cardinal Concrete pumping truck smashed into their ambulance.
The force was so powerful, it sheered the rig in half. Two cars and an 18-wheeler also collided with the wreckage. The crash sent a total of seven people to the hospital.