POUGHKEEPSIE – A Mobile Life Support Services (MLSS) ambulance responding to a call Friday night was involved in a collision that sent several people to a local hospital.
At around 10 p.m. the ambulance was dispatched to the Poughkeepsie train station for a person complaining of leg pain. While en route to the call, the ambulance, operating with lights and sirens, collided with a passenger vehicle with five occupants. The wreck occurred at the intersection of Mill and North Bridge Streets in the city. The two vehicles made contact forcing the passenger vehicle to leave the roadway and crash into a convenience store at the intersection. After the original impact, the ambulance struck the back of the other vehicle, forcing it further into the side of the store.
The passenger car involved in the wreck was operating as a Lyft transport with four passengers and the driver. The ambulance was occupied by two medics. The City of Poughkeepsie Police and Fire departments arrived within moments and triaged the injured and stabilized the building to prevent further injuries.
An ambulance from the neighboring Fairview Fire District was summoned to the scene to transport some of the passengers from the Lyft vehicle and Mobile Life supplied additional ambulances to transport the remaining patients, two of which were the MLSS employees. One of the ambulance employees sustained a laceration to his head in the wreck.
The building’s main floor serves as a store known as Muzzie’s. The structure sustained substantial damage as a result of the accident. An inspector from the city’s building department was on scene to inspect the damage. The inspector assessed the damage and told the store employees that closing the store was mandatory until an engineer could assess the damage on a more thorough basis.
Neighboring residents told Mid-Hudson News that they heard sirens approaching followed by the sounds of a crash. One neighbor’s surveillance cameras captured the collision on video. “I heard the sirens coming down the hill and all of a sudden I heard a loud crash. I looked out the window and saw a car into the side of Muzzie’s with the ambulance crashed into the back of the car,” said the neighbor that wishes to remain anonymous.
Police officers reviewed the video from the neighbors and were gathering additional facts as the wrecked vehicles were removed from the scene by Redl’s Towing. No patrons or employees of the store were injured in the crash but the store’s interior had shelving and product displaced after impact. The building’s foundation was noticeably damaged after the car was pulled away from the building.
The City of Poughkeepsie Police are still investigating the accident.
