2 Dead In Iowa Ambulance Crash

May 14, 2010
A paramedic with significant injuries fought to save her patient and an ambulance driver on Thursday following a crash in Boone County. Photos: Ambulance, Semi Crash Video: 2 Dead In Crash Video: Carroll Reacts To Crash Rescue crews arriving on the scene said the paramedic, Wendy Baker, told t
A paramedic with significant injuries fought to save her patient and an ambulance driver on Thursday following a crash in Boone County.

Photos: Ambulance, Semi Crash

Video: 2 Dead In Crash

Video: Carroll Reacts To Crash

Rescue crews arriving on the scene said the paramedic, Wendy Baker, told them her co-worker in the back of the ambulance was dead. Baker then continued to move back and forth treating the patient in the back of the ambulance as well as the driver.

"She was working so hard I had to physically remove her from the ambulance scene because she didn't want to give up her patients," said Boone County Deputy Brian Pontius. "I don't even know her name."

Officials said the patient in the ambulance died as well as the nurse in the back of the ambulance. The nurse, Sheryl Stoolman, 53, had worked at the hospital in Carroll for more than 26 years.

Officials said the ambulance ran into the back of the semi tractor-trailer as the vehicles rolled down Highway 30 near the town of Beaver at 11:26 a.m. The roadway was closed in both directions as multiple rescue crews worked to move the victims to hospitals.

"The semi driver was going to make a turn," Deputy Pontius said. "He checked his mirrors to make that turn. He realized the ambulance was behind him running red lights and pulled to the right. The unfortunate part was the ambulance saw the semi and he also pulled to the right and they hit each other. The ambulance hit the back of the semi."

The ambulance driver was flown by air ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Des Moines.

Officials said the ambulance was taking a patient in critical condition from the St. Anthony Regional Hospital in Carroll to a Des Moines hospital.

"In an ambulance situation, the personnel in the back don't wear seat belts because they were attending to a patient," Pontius said.

Two people are dead following the crash and three more injured. Norbert Hoffman, 75, of Carroll, and Stoolman, of Carroll, died in the crash.

Wendy Baker, 45, of Carroll, and Robert Genzen, 46, of Manning, were injured. The driver of the semi, Dennis Good, 49, of Ogden, did not have serious injuries.

Witnesses said the Carroll County ambulance's entire engine compartment and cab were completely crushed.

The paramedic is recovering at the Greene County Medical Center in Jefferson. The Carroll County Sheriff said she is doing well.

The crash investigation will likely be turned over to the Iowa State Patrol.

Look for updates on this developing story on KCCI-TV and KCCI.com.

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