S.C. EMT Charged in Wreck That Claimed Co-worker

EMT Gale Rivers was killed when the ambulance was hit by a tractor-trailer.

Source The Charlotte Observer

Sept. 28, 2012

2 min read

Sept. 28--As an emergency medical technician was laid to rest Thursday, police announced that the woman's coworker has been charged in the wreck that killed her on U.S. 74 in Monroe.

Belinda "Gale" Rivers, an EMT with the S.C.-based Sandhills Ambulance Service, was riding in the passenger seat of an ambulance Tuesday morning near Carolinas Medical Center-Union when the ambulance and a tractor-trailer collided.

Monroe police say the ambulance's driver, Jonathan Cory Brown of Cheraw, S.C., is charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle.

The crash happened around 11 a.m. at U.S. 74 and Venus Street. Police said that evidence and witness accounts of the wreck revealed that Brown, also an EMT, ran a red light when he entered the intersection before the collision.

Rivers died at the scene.

Paramedics took Brown to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. The extent of his injuries is unclear, but he was expected to recover. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt.

Brown and Rivers had just dropped off a patient at the hospital and were returning to South Carolina, according to reports. No patients were in the ambulance at the time of the crash.

Rivers' funeral service was held Thursday afternoon at a church in Ruby, S.C. Vehicles from several fire departments lined the route from the funeral home to the church in tribute to Rivers.

Rivers' obituary says she graduated from Chesterfield High School and was a member of the Cheraw (S.C.) Rescue Squad. She is survived by several relatives, including her husband, son and granddaughter.

"Gale enjoyed dancing, fishing, making pocketbooks and drinking Pepsi," her obituary says. "She was an avid Gamecock fan. Gale was a 'people person' who spent her life serving and helping others."

Her family requested that memorials in Rivers' name be made to the Cheraw Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 28, Cheraw, SC 29520 or the Chesterfield Rescue Squad, P.O. Box 147, Chesterfield, SC 29709. WCNC-TV contributed.

Cooke: 704-358-5067; Twitter: @MeghanACooke