Arrest warrants have been issued for Puckett EMS driver Crystin Keys by Rome police over a fatal crash on June 16 that claimed the life of patient Tony Patterson.
Keys, 21, has been charged with second-degree homicide by vehicle and failure to maintain a single lane while operating an ambulance.
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The early morning ambulance crash claimed the life of the patient and injured the driver and a medic aboard.
“Markings on the ground and an uprooted tree show the path the ambulance took across Martha Barry Highway.
There was a lot of EMS, fire vehicles, and the only other thing that I could see, I was on the other side of the road, was an overturned ambulance,” recalled Austen Trevers, who witnessed the scene moments after the crash. “I mean, it’s always scary to think that just one wrong turn can kind of change the whole outcome of anyone’s life,” said Trevers.
Police say the ambulance, owned by Puckett EMS, drifted across the turning lane, crashed into the tree, and rolled over.
Police believe the driver, Keys from Chattanooga, may have fallen asleep at the wheel.
The patient in the ambulance, 55-year-old Tony Patterson from Lafayette, died at the scene. The EMT treating Patterson, 29-year-old Robert Burnham from Ooltewah, was taken to Floyd Medical Center for his injuries.