Drunk Driver Crashes into Ambulance: May have Contributed to Patient’s Death

An ambulance carrying a man suspected to have suffered a heart attack was hit by a car yesterday. The patient was transferred to another ambulance but was declared dead in hospital two hours later.

The ambulance was carrying a 62 year-old Tainan resident named Chiang who had a history of diabetes and heart disease. Mr Chiang was suffering chest tightness and breathing difficulties.

At around 9:20am, with the siren blaring, the ambulance was exiting an alley when a silver sedan driven by a 44 year-old man named Wu slammed into the rear left side, causing the ambulance to spin almost 180 degrees.

A back-up ambulance was called and the patient transferred. According to Apple Daily, the transfer caused a delay of 8 minutes. Mr Chiang later died in hospital.

The driver of the sedan, who has previous criminal records for drugs offenses and attempted murder, attempted to flee the scene in his badly damaged car, but only managed to make 200 meters before his car broke down. He then fled on foot.

Wu was arrested about 30 minutes later, and found to have been driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.31mg/l (BrAC).

Prosecutors are investigating whether the delay in treatment contributed to the death of Chiang. Mr Chiang’s family claim that Chiang was a victim of drunk driving.

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