Parents of a three-year-old boy are speaking out after an ambulance carrying their son got stuck after off-roading.
It happened two months ago when an AMR ambulance got stuck in the grass off I-285 after one of the paramedics tried to take a shortcut. This was while three-year-old Chris was in the back suffering from a seizure and needed to get to the hospital.
Just two weeks ago, a viral video captured an AMR EMT punching a 17-year-old patient who was restrained in the back of one of their ambulances. This is what started 11Alive’s investigation into the company and since then we've learned more troubling details.
It turns out AMR has a history of slow-responses to emergencies. DeKalb County has even fined them more than a million and a half dollars in the last year.
Rochelle Winfield told 11Alive she wanted to forget about what happened when her son was in the AMR ambulance but when she saw the stories about AMR’s issues on 11Alive, she knew she had to come forward.
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In March, Chris suffered two seizures in the same day. His parents, Rochelle and Maurice Sanders, pulled over on the side of I-285 and waited for an ambulance to arrive. Once an AMR truck arrived, Maurice got in the back with his son while Rochelle drove ahead to the hospital.
But she didn't make it far.
“I get a call from Rice saying, 'we're stuck' and I say, 'what do you mean you're stuck.' He said, ‘they decided to cut through the shoulder to get to the exit. And we're stuck,” Rochelle recalled.
Maurice said the driver thought it was a good idea to drive up the side of the shoulder.
“As soon as she cut through, she got stuck,” Maurice said. “Me and my son are panicking because we can't get to the hospital.”
“I can hear that the wheels are spinning but they're spinning in reverse. He has the ambulance struck in reverse, stomping on the gas,” Rochelle said. “I panicked because all I thought was if they flew into traffic, this isn't going to end well.”
The ambulance couldn't move and they said a tow truck had to be called all the while their son is still in the back of the ambulance.
Rochelle and Maurice decided they were done with AMR and took their son to the hospital themselves.
“I need parents to understand that this can happen when you call 911 and AMR shows up,” Rochelle said.
The good news is that three-year-old Chris is now fine.
11Alive reached out to AMR about this incident but never received a response.
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