Police: 2 medics recovering after ambulance crash; driver traveling wrong way on highway killed

An ambulance is pulled onto a wrecker after it was struck head-on in a collision on Interstate 40 on Sunday morning.
An ambulance is pulled onto a wrecker after it was struck head-on in a collision on Interstate 40 on Sunday morning.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Two medics are recovering Monday after their ambulance was struck head-on in a collision on Interstate 40 that killed another driver, officials said.

Paul Sanchez, 22, of North Little Rock and Darius Williams, 23, of Maumelle were returning to Little Rock on I-40 about 5:15 a.m. Sunday when their ambulance collided with a car driving the wrong way near the Morgan exit, according to a preliminary report by Arkansas State Police.

The driver of the other vehicle, 21-year-old Briana Carter, of Little Rock, died at the scene, the report stated. Both medics were taken to area hospitals for treatment of their injuries.

Williams, who was a passenger in the Metropolitan Emergency Medical Services ambulance, was released from the hospital Sunday, MEMS Executive Director Jon Swanson said. Sanchez, the ambulance's driver, was still in the hospital late Monday morning but had undergone a successful surgery, Swanson said.

"He's very upbeat, very positive," Swanson said. "He's got a wonderful attitude."

Swanson said the two are fortunate to be alive.

"Things could have been so much worse," he said.

Sunday's accident was at least the second fatal accident involving someone driving the wrong way on Arkansas roads this year. One driver was killed early Friday in a wrong-way crash on U.S. 270 near Hot Springs.

Danny Straessle, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation, said his agency has implemented a number of projects in recent years to enhance the safety of state roads. As drivers traveling the wrong direction approach on- or off-ramps, they see two signs indicating a driver is headed the wrong way, according to the spokesman. In the past, there was only one, and now these signs have been lowered so they are roughly level with vehicles' headlights.

Additionally, the department has installed delineators and raised pavement markers that reflect white when drivers are traveling in the proper direction, and red when drivers need to turn around, he said.

In the end, Straessle said, it is up to drivers to ensure they are traveling in the right direction.

"There's only so much we can do to point out, 'Hey, this is not the correct way,'" he said. "There is some driver responsibility as well."

---

Information from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Arkansas Online.

Upcoming Events