MOORESVILLE, Ind. --
A Jeep Cherokee collided head-on with a Brown Township ambulance Monday afternoon, killing both drivers, including a firefighter who was operating the ambulance, authorities said.
The Jeep crossed Indiana 144's center line and struck the oncoming ambulance, which was not on an emergency run, near Mann Road a few miles southeast of Mooresville at about 3:50 p.m., authorities said.
The ambulance's driver, Brown Township fire Capt. David Sherfick, 40, of Mooresville, and the Jeep's driver, James R. Hoskins, 45, of Nashville, were pronounced dead at the scene, according to state police.
A reserve firefighter who was a passenger in the ambulance, Evan Kerkhof, 22, was sent to a hospital in good condition with unspecified injuries.
Firefighters and police officers who went to the wreck site saluted Sherfick's body as it was taken away, 6News' Tanya Spencer reported.
Sherfick had spent nearly 18 years with the fire department. He had just dropped off a patient and was headed back to the fire station.
"David had the actual eat, sleep and drink fire department attitude," said Brown Township fire Chief David Davis. "He wasn't actually supposed to be on the ambulance, but we were covered up with run load and he was pulled off and had to actually take this run."
"Tell everybody we lost a good man today," a sheriff's deputy said of Sherfick.
Indiana 144 was closed at the wreck site for several hours. Police said they didn't know why the Jeep had crossed the center line.
Hours after the crash, firefighters gathered at the firehouse to grieve and pray for the 10-year-old son Sherfick left behind.
"David's son was the light of his life, and he will suffer the most of anyone for what's happened here," Davis said.
Sherfick's parents were vacationing in Florida when they were told of their son's death.
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Visitation for Capt. Sherfick will be from 4-8 pm Thursday at the First United Methodist Church, located on Indianapolis Road in Mooresville with services to be conducted Friday, Feb. 8th at 10 AM in the Auditorium of Mooresville High School.
