*Updated 3:00 PM, Oct. 7*

According to a release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, ambulance driver Robert L. Parrish, 70, of Cowarts, suffered a medical emergency while driving an ambulance leading to a one-vehicle crash.

The crash occurred at approximately 3:35 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, when the 2014 Ford E-350 ambulance left the roadway and struck a tree on U.S. Highway 231 near the 61 mile marker, approximately three miles south of Brundidge. Parrish’s death was determined to be unrelated to the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the ambulance left the roadway, it struck a ditch and then a tree before being engulfed in flames. Ruby D. Collins, 63, of Troy, and Hannah L. Sumner, 28, of Dothan, were both injured in the crash and are hospitalized. Collins was the patient being transported in the ambulance, while Sumner was the ambulance’s on-board paramedic. Both were transported to hospitals in Dothan.

According to media reports on Thursday, a bystander also suffered burns helping Collins and Sumner escape the engulfed ambulance.

Paramedic dies in Pike County crash

Staff Reports

According to a release from the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, ambulance driver Robert L. Parrish, 70, of Cowarts, suffered a medical emergency while driving an ambulance leading to a one-vehicle crash.

The crash occurred at approximately 3:35 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, when the 2014 Ford E-350 ambulance left the roadway and struck a tree on U.S. Highway 231 near the 61 mile marker, approximately three miles south of Brundidge. Parrish’s death was determined to be unrelated to the crash. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the ambulance left the roadway, it struck a ditch and then a tree before being engulfed in flames. Ruby D. Collins, 63, of Troy, and Hannah L. Sumner, 28, of Dothan, were both injured in the crash and are hospitalized. Collins was the patient being transported in the ambulance, while Sumner was the ambulance’s on-board paramedic. Both were transported to hospitals in Dothan.

According to media reports on Thursday, a bystander also suffered burns helping Collins and Sumner escape the engulfed ambulance.