Tractor-Trailer Collision Preceded Elkridge Ambulance Crash: Police

The Elkridge collision that sent an ambulance driver to shock trauma and shut down US Route 1 for hours Monday night was preceded by a two-vehicle crash involving a tractor-trailer, the Howard County Police Department reported.

Related: Ambulance Driver Critically Injured in Kit Kat Road Crash

At approximately 7 p.m. on Monday, Elkridge first responders were asked to assist with an emergency call in Baltimore County, according to the report.

The ambulance was headed north on Route 1 toward the call, with lights and sirens activated, and had crested the hill just before Kit Kat Road when it crashed into a 2011 Hyundai Sonata, police said. Then the Sonata hit a 2008 Chrysler 300, police reported.

After crashing into the Sonata, the ambulance hit the side of a 2014 Volvo tractor-trailer, according to police.

It took an hour to get the driver of the ambulance out of the wreckage, with assistance from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services special operations team and the University of Maryland Shock Trauma GO Team, police reported.

The ambulance driver was taken to shock trauma by ambulance rather than medevac due to weather conditions, according to Mary Phelan, spokeswoman for the Howard County Police Department.

The 19-year-old ambulance driver, a member of the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department, was listed as critical Monday night and improved to stable condition Tuesday morning, Phelan said.

Preliminary investigation indicated there was a crash at the scene before the ambulance arrived and as a result, two vehicles were stopped on northbound Route 1, police reported Tuesday.

In that collision, the tractor-trailer had collided with a 1993 Buick Century while the tractor-trailer driver was making a left turn from Kit Kat Road to south Washington Boulevard, Phelan said. The tractor-trailer was stopped across three lanes of Route 1 from that crash, according to the report.

In total, the collisions sent six people to the hospital—three from passenger cars and three from the ambulance, police said.

A 63-year-old Catonsville woman driving the Chrysler 300 was taken to Howard County General Hospital with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, police said.

A 45-year-old Elkridge woman driving the Hyundai Sonata and her 11-year-old daughter were taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries as well, according to the report.

Two EMTs from the Elkridge Volunteer Fire Company—a 55-year-old man and 24-year-old woman—also had injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening and were taken to the hospital, police said.

A 66-year-old Rockville man who had been driving the tractor-trailer was not injured and refused treatment, according to the report.

The investigation into the collisions is continuing, according to police.

Route 1 was closed as authorities cleared the scene, and the road reopened at approximately midnight, police said.

Photo Credit: Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services.