Tex. Ambulance T-Boned by Vehicle While Responding to Call

Aug. 03—An SUV crashed into an ambulance about 9 a.m. Thursday in central Baytown, police said, injuring two first responders.

Baytown Fire Department Medic Unit No. 4 was just two blocks from its destination—a car crash scene—when a Cadillac Escalade SUV hit the side of the ambulance at the intersection of North Main and Defee, Baytown officials said.

The ambulance was struck so hard it rolled over onto its side.

The vehicle carried two paramedics in the cab; in the rear were a student and a dispatcher doing a ride-along, said Dana Dalbey, the Baytown FD assistant chief in charge of emergency medical services.

The student and dispatcher suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries. The student presented an altered level of consciousness, Dalbey said, so the student and the dispatcher were flown by air ambulance to the trauma center at Houston's Memorial Hermann Hospital.

The Escalade had four occupants, a mother and three children, Dalbey said. They were not seriously injured and were taken to a local hospital, mostly as a precaution.

Baytown police will investigate the crash and determine the cause, Lt. Steve Dorris said. He said police do not have reason to suspect intoxicated driving and also said there is not a traffic camera nearby.