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Ambulance runs light, slams into SUV

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published August 12, 2006

LARGO - Mickey Altman was on her way to the bank Friday morning when she stopped at a red light behind a white Jeep Cherokee on Rosery Road.

When the arrow turned green, the Jeep moved into the intersection to turn left onto Clearwater-Largo Road when a Sunstar ambulance with no siren or lights on all of a sudden ran a red light and smashed into the sport utility vehicle, she said, sending it spinning into the middle of the road.

"He really got clobbered," Altman said. "I went over to the Jeep's driver and said to him, 'Are you all right?' He said, 'What happened?' "

Both Altman and another witness, Richard Hagan, said the ambulance did not have its lights or sirens on.

The reason? It was a nonemergency transport.

Largo police Officer Marcus Elam said emergency medical technician David Minary and paramedic Barbara Aspromonte were transporting Isis Samuel Rizk, 68, to a Largo health care facility when they hit the 1998 Jeep about 10:50 a.m.

"Obviously we are in the process of investigating this," said Mark Postma, Sunstar's chief operating officer.

Minary, the driver, was cited for running a red light and received a $117 ticket, police said. Aspromonte was in the back tending to Rizk at the time.

Pinellas County records show that Minary was cited for failure to yield in 2000 and took an elected driving course. He paid a reduced fine of $69.20. In 2001, he was cited for careless driving and again took a driving course and paid a reduced penalty in the same amount as in the first case.

Elam said the speed limit on that section of the road is 40 mph, and he did not think Minary was traveling much faster than that when he hit the Jeep, which was driven by David Humphrey, 66, who works part time for FAST of Florida Inc., an air conditioning, appliance and plumbing business.

Diane Roberts, the company's accounting manager, said Humphrey has been working there since about April and is considered "a really nice guy" by the staff.

His main job is to obtain permits to install new equipment such as air conditioners, she said.

He was taken to Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater along with Minary and Aspromonte. Rizk was transported to Largo Medical Center. None had life-threatening injuries, Elam said.

Both vehicles sustained severe front-end damage and had to be towed away.

Roberts said she was sorry to hear how badly the company's vehicle was damaged.

Of its Pinellas County fleet, "that's our only Jeep," she said.

When a manager checked on him after the crash, Roberts said, Humphrey's main concern was that he couldn't see.

"A lens had popped out of his eyeglasses," she said. "He asked (the manager) to go back to the Jeep and look for it."

Times researchers John Martin and Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this report. Eileen Schulte can be reached at schulte@sptimes.com or (727) 445-4153.

[Last modified August 12, 2006, 07:12:27]