CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO  РAn ambulance crew finds themselves in the middle of a hit and run crash.
It happened around 3 a.m. Sunday in 2000 block of New Madrid Street in Cape Girardeau.
“I couldn’t believe it. Who’d actually hit an ambulance and then take off? I didn’t see that happening,” said Taylor Busch who lives across from where the crash happened.
He might not believe it, but video and sound from an ambulance camera gives you an idea of how it all took place.
“If it had occurred 30 seconds later, the ambulance crew would have been at the back unloading the stretcher,” said Dr. John Russell who owns Cape County Private Ambulance.
He says his crew had just pulled up and parked behind a fire truck to take care of a medical emergency, when someone slammed into them.
“They are surprised, a little angry that it happened, and that the person left the scene. As I understand it, the vehicle hit the ambulance, backed up and made a turn down a side street out of the view of my two crew people,” he says.
“Their lights were on. I don’t see how they missed the ambulance,” Busch said.
Neighbors are also shocked the driver of the suspect vehicle took off right in front of a police car.
Dr. Russell says he’s just glad no one was hurt.
The ambulance, the newest in his fleet, will be out of service until he gets it repaired.
As for the crash itself, Russell says he isn’t really surprised.
“If they’re inclined to leave the scene, I don’t know if it makes any difference if it’s an ambulance or a mailbox,” he said.
Russell estimates the ambulance suffered several hundred dollars in damages.
Another ambulance crew responded to take away the patient at that home on New Madrid Street.
In the meantime, Cape Girardeau Police are looking for the driver of a light colored truck that may have some damage on its front.
Call them if you have any information you think would help.
Dr. Russell says taking the ambulance out of service will not affect the district, because there are other ambulances to be used in place of the one that was damaged.
