Port St. Lucie - Wednesday August 16, 2023: A 70-year-old man from Jacksonville lost his life on Interstate 95 Tuesday evening after he fell out of the back of a 2015 white Ford ambulance onto the I-95 roadway.
According to a news release from Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), he was a patient in the ambulance. A 29-year-old paramedic in the ambulance tried to prevent the elderly man from falling out, but he too tumbled onto the roadway. The paramedic was transported to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center with life-threating injuries. His current condition has not yet been released. The elderly man was pronounced dead at the scene.
The ambulance was being driven by a 38-year-old woman from Orange Park, she was uninjured.
The crash occurred just before 9 p.m. as the ambulance was traveling in the outside lane of I-95 while passing over Midway Road, within the city limits of Port St. Lucie.
FHP reports that the 70-year-old man was struck by multiple vehicles after he fell out. Only two vehicles (that initially left the scene), later stopped and cooperated with Highway Patrol's investigation.
All the other vehicles that struck the elderly man "continued southbound", states the FHP release.
Of the two vehicles that did stop, one was a 2023 gray Kia K-5 sedan being driven by a 24-year-old Port St. Lucie man. The other vehicle was a 2020 gray Volvo tractor being driven by a 44-year-old man from Forest Hills New York. Neither of those drivers was injured.
FHP is asking anyone who witnessed this crash or who was involved in it, or who may have additional information to contact the Troop L – Fort Pierce station by calling - (850) 617-2000.