AMES, Iowa – Police in Story County say a paramedic fell asleep at the wheel early Wednesday morning and drove an ambulance off I-35 and into a ditch in Ames.
It happened around 5:30 a.m. as the ambulance from the Cherokee Regional Medical Center was traveling southbound on I-35 and veered off the road, according to Lt. Nicholas Lennie with the Story County Sheriff’s Office.
The ambulance hit an exit sign and ended up in a ditch between the interstate and the exit ramp to westbound Highway 30.
The ambulance was transporting a patient to the Ottumwa Regional Health Center.
According to WHO Channel 13, the two paramedics and the patient on board suffered minor cuts and bruises. All were taken to Mary Greeley Medical Center to be checked out.
The driver, whose name has not been released yet, will be cited for failure to maintain control.