ATLANTA — Newly released body camera video is giving a look into the investigation of a deadly ambulance crash last week.
The vehicle crashed into a ditch, killing the patient inside. The driver is now in the Fulton County Jail and charged with DUI and homicide.
Now, the family of the victim is demanding answers and remembering the life of their lost loved one.
After recently battling several health issues, 66-year-old Wilton Thomason Jr. was finally recovering according to his family.
The chef and catering company owner's son told 11Alive, in the past year, Thomason had survived heart attacks, pneumonia, sepsis, COVID-19 and made it through several intensive care unit visits.
"My dad was a fighter, he was the life of the party. He was very involved, great father," his son, Terrance Thomason, said.
On November 12, Thomason was being transported in Fairburn from a dialysis appointment to a nursing home he was living at. He was traveling inside an ambulance from Prime Care EMS when the vehicle crashed.
Thomason's children told 11Alive their father had been transported recently multiple times each week for his dialysis appointments, by various ambulance companies, with the trips being considered non-emergency.
The crash happened shortly before 7:25 p.m. on West Camplebellton Street at Golightly Street in Fairburn.
Police reports and newly released body camera video details Thomason going into cardiac arrest, first responders arriving at the scene of the crash, and then Thomason dying a short time later.
The Fairburn Police body camera video also captured the scene after the crash and the discussions between first responders.
"The driver came up and talked to me. He smells intoxicated. He's intoxicated," a female paramedic can be heard telling Fairburn police.
Meanwhile, another officer can be heard remarking about an "Olde English beer can" in the driver cockpit.
"I feel like there has to be some more information that we just don't have," Terrance told 11Alive when asked about the crash.
The victim's son has been a paramedic himself for a decade in Atlanta.
"You have to be on-point, you have to be ready, you have to be knowledgeable and you have to care," he added.
Terrence said that he can't believe certain details of how the paramedics taking care of his father were allegedly transporting him.
"He could be alive if he was properly restrained," a first responder is heard saying on the body camera. Investigators have noted that Thomason wasn't restrained in the back of the ambulance at the time of the crash.
After suspecting the driver of drinking and driving, police then began questioning him about the crash.
"So what happened tonight," an officer asked the driver.
"We were driving. We were on our way taking him to dialysis, a car like almost hit us swerving over into the lane, so we had to swerve over and ended up hitting the side rail and then like we tilted," the driver responds.
"Have you had anything to drink tonight?"
"No. No. No."
"You haven't?"
"Haven't."
Officers can then be seen giving the man a field sobriety test and using a breathalyzer. A Fairburn Police report detailed the man's struggle to pass the test and the breathalyzer testing positive for alcohol.
"He only blew a .016," an officer states in the body camera video.
That number is below the legal limit, but the police report states the driver admitted to drinking while driving the ambulance and also having smoked marijuana and taken Adderall.
The police report detailed how the driver and another ambulance company employee who was riding in the back attempted to call an Uber to leave the scene.
The driver was arrested at the scene of the crash and has since been held at the Fulton County Jail without bond. He is charged with driving under the influence of multiple substances, first-degree vehicular homicide, possession of an open alcohol container, reckless conduct, and several other charges.
"We have a full-on investigation going to find out every aspect of this case," attorney Stephen Fowler said.
Fowler and his law firm are representing the Thomason family. While Fowler admitted his team's investigation is in the early stages, he noted a lawsuit is likely to be filed.
"If we can't feel safe in an ambulance, where can we feel safe?" he said.
Thomason's daughter said until her family has answers she can't truly move forward.
11Alive has made multiple attempts to reach the owner of PrimeCARE EMS but hasn't received a response.