Ambulance driver admits drinking beer before crash that killed dialysis patient: police

A Georgia ambulance driver admitted to drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and taking Adderall before a crash that killed a dialysis patient last week, officials said. The driver, Kevin T. McCorvey, 34, was transporting Wilton Thomason Jr., 66, in Fairburn shortly before 7:30 p.m. Friday, a report from the Georgia State Patrol cited by NBC News said.

McCorvey veered off the shoulder of the road causing the ambulance to roll over into a ditch, the police said. Thomason was unrestrained and “suffered fatal injuries,” the report by Georgia State Patrol said. McCorvey has since been charged with DUI, first-degree homicide by vehicle, failure to maintain a lane and possession of an open container.

The state patrol said it was called to the scene of the crash and conducted a field sobriety test. It said McCorvey failed the test. “He also admitted to smoking marijuana, taking Adderall and drinking beer while driving the ambulance,” Fairburn police said.

After the crash, witnesses provided an officer who arrived at the scene with a ladder to try and climb through the ambulance’s rear door to open it, Fairburn police said. The officer found McCorvey and another ambulance employee who said they were fine but they had a dialysis patient with them.

The officer was then able to break the glass of the ambulance’s back door. McCorvey managed to get out of the vehicle through a window. The second ambulance employee also got out with the help of the officer, according to the report by the police.

McCorvey subsequently performed chest compressions on Thomason and said that the patient was having a cardiac arrest, police said. Thomason was later pronounced dead.

McCorvey and the second ambulance employee attempted to leave the scene in an Uber vehicle but they were stopped, police said. The officer at the scene smelled alcohol on McCorvey’s breath when he spoke, the police said.

McCorvey was arrested and taken to Fulton County Jail where he was charged. The other ambulance employee has not been charged, police said.

McCorvey appeared in court Monday. The court determined that McCorvey was to be held without bond because of the “nature of the charges” and the “danger to the community,” NBC News reported.