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Cortez Cheathams (28) died in an auto wreck and the ambulance crew overlooked his body
Filed Under:
Automobile Accident
Published: Aug 01, 2015 @ 7:05 PM
Cortez Cheathams (28)
Date:
Jul 18, 2015
Cause of Death:
Auto Accident
Location:
Flint, Michigan
URL:
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They found the smashed-up car — but not the fatally injured driver inside.
A bumbling ambulance crew is under fire after failing to spot the broken body of a Michigan crash victim, telling a dispatcher the car was empty before leaving the scene, authorities said.
Cortez Cheathams, 28, was dead when a persistent neighbor finally persuaded dispatchers to send a second crew for a closer look.
The shocking incident is now under review by Flint police, Genesee County health officials and the private ambulance company, Mobile Medical Response.
Cheathams veered off the road shortly after 4 a.m. on July 18 and slammed into a tree, authorities said.
An ABC 12 video of the deadly scene shows the white sedan on the grass, the front end destroyed by the collision.
Neighbor Devon Johnson heard the violent crash and looked outside.
"I thought they hit the house," Johnson told MLive. "I didn't see anybody in the vehicle."
But he didn't see anybody get out either.
The quick-acting neighbor called 911 at 4:12 a.m. and described a dire scene — a smoking car into a tree, driver possibly still inside.
A record of 911 calls shows a second call came in nine minutes later, again reporting no one had gotten out.
Dispatchers finally sent an ambulance at 4:25 a.m.
The EMTs claimed they were on scene just a minute later but said the car was empty and rolled away.
A third 911 call came in at 4:34 a.m. and a fourth at 5:10 a.m.
A dispatcher told a caller the police were too busy to respond just then.
Finally, a fed-up neighbor checked the car himself and spotted Cheathams' body slumped inside.
That prompted a fifth 911 call at 5:39 a.m. — this time with news of a trapped driver.
Another 20 minutes passed before a second crew finally found Cheathams.
It was 6 a.m. — an hour and 48 minutes after the first 911 call — and the Flint man was dead.
Authorities are still investigating when Cheathams died and why the EMTs didn't see him sooner.
Mobile Medical claimed its first crew got out of the ambulance shined lights on the scene, but couldn't find anyone.
"The ambulance, per protocol cleared the scene and returned to service," the company said in a statement.
It is conducting an internal investigation and has turned over all the available information to the Genesee County Medical Control Authority, the company said.
Related Article(s):
Michigan ambulance crew overlooks victim in fatal crash
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