A suspected drunk driver crashed into a medical helicopter and fire truck early Sunday at an accident scene in Gallup, New Mexico, but no one was injured.
The medical helicopter, which was not running at the time, had landed in service of an earlier accident on Navajo Route 1149, KRQE-TV reported. Even though McKinley County sheriff's deputies established a landing zone for the helicopter, a vehicle driven by Glenn Livingston, 26, of Gallup, allegedly drove around the barricades on State Highway 566, the station noted.
Authorities told KRQE-TV that the vehicle Livingston was driving collided with the fire truck and knocked the helicopter on its side, leaving it inoperable.
Frank Hernandez, of Speedway Towing in Gallup, told KOB-TV that he was at the scene preparing to tow away a vehicle from the first accident when he saw Livingston's vehicle.
"Then I noticed after we got the vehicle picked up, this black Jeep flew past us," Hernandez said, according to KOB-TV. "I was thinking, 'What the heck is this guy doing?' Because they had people out there trying to stop traffic, already he almost hit two ladies."
Julia Azua, regional director for the Air Medical Resource Group, credited her staff at the scene for remaining calm.
"Our medical team did an outstanding job," Azua told KOB-TV. "The patient was extremely critical, they maintained composure, they were professional and the stabilized this patient despite the incident that occurred on the scene."
KOAT-TV reported that the patient hurt in the original rollover accident was taken to the hospital by ambulance and is expected to recover.
KRQE-TV reported that Livingston was arrested and charged with aggravated DWI, resisting, evading, and or obstructing an officer among other charges.
"You've got to be pretty drunk," Hernandez told KOB-TV. "I've seen them where they've taken vehicles off the road and they don't know they did that, or not."
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