PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — A 70-year-old Jacksonville man died Tuesday evening in St. Lucie County as the Florida Highway Patrol says he jumped out of an ambulance while it was en route on Interstate 95 in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
On Tuesday at 8:58 p.m., an ambulance was traveling southbound on I-95 at County Road 712 in the outside lane, according to FHP. The unidentified elderly man "exited the rear of the ambulance and fell onto the roadway," the crash report states.
As an attempt to stop the man, a 29-year-old man who is a paramedic from Jacksonville and was in the ambulance at the time of the incident, too, fell onto the roadway as well, FHP states.
Multiple vehicles including a 2023 gray Kia K5 and a 2020 gray Volvo, struck the 70-year-old man. He was pronounced dead at the scene by first responders while the 29-year-old, was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center with life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the ambulance, a 38-year-old woman from Orange Park, the driver of the Kia, a 24-year-old man from Port St. Lucie, a passenger in the Kia, a 27-year-old man from Port St. Lucie, and a 44-year-old man from Forest Hills, New York, all unidentified, did not suffer any injuries in the incident.
The FHP report further states that the ambulance came to a "controlled stop" on the southbound outside shoulder of the interstate and that the driver of the Kia and Volvo were the only two vehicles out of several others, who came back to the scene.
FHP says this is an ongoing investigation and anyone with information or anyone involved in the crash, is urged to contact Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Lieutenant Indiana Miranda at 954-308-5929 or 954-242-3340.