Patient Killed When Ambulance Crashes Into Tractor-Trailer

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FL — A woman is dead after the ambulance transporting her to a local hospital collided with a tractor-trailer at a Hillsborough County intersection on Friday.

A spokesperson for Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened shortly before 11:40 p.m. at the intersection of McGee Road and State Road 39.

According to state police, a Hillsborough County Fire Rescue ambulance driven in non-emergency mode was traveling east on McGee Road when its driver entered the intersection at SR-39 without yielding.

As the ambulance went through the intersection, police said it traveled into the path of a Peterbilt tractor-trailer headed north on SR-39. The collision caused the ambulance to overturn and the tractor-trailer to jackknife.

The driver of the ambulance — a 26-year-old man — and a 47-year-old crew member suffered minor injuries in the crash. Their patient — a 64-year-old Plant City woman — was seriously injured and taken to an area hospital, where she later died.

The tractor-trailer driver — a 52-year-old Wesley Chapel man — was not injured in the crash.

The crash remains under investigation.