By Jack Tomczuk
Authorities said a 3-month-old baby was killed and her mother was seriously injured after an ambulance — allegedly driven by a man under the influence of alcohol or drugs — crashed Sunday morning in Northeast Philadelphia.
Both the mother and infant girl were thrown through the front windshield of the ambulance when the vehicle slammed into a Honda Accord at around 5:15 a.m. at the corner of Harbison and Torresdale avenues in the Frankford neighborhood, according to police.
Investigators said the ambulance was going fast, but that the operator had not activated its lights or siren. The emergency vehicle was headed south on Torresdale, went through a steady red light and hit the Honda, which was heading east on a green light, authorities said.
Following the collision, Philadelphia Fire Department medics rushed the child, identified as Marian Harris, to Einstein Medical Center, where she died at around 6:15 a.m, law enforcement officials said.
Marian’s mother, whose age has not been released, was taken to Einstein in critical condition with severe head trauma, according to the PPD.
Police said the Honda driver, a 25-year-old man, refused medical treatment at the scene, while the 51-year-old ambulance operator was hospitalized at Jefferson Torresdale. There was no word on his condition.
The ambulance driver is expected to be charged with DUI and other offenses, investigators added. Authorities have not publicly identified him.
PPD representatives said that, at the time of the collision, officers were headed to a house on the 6600 block of Ditman Street in Tacony for a report of an unresponsive infant. Marian’s family left the house in a privately-owned ambulance before they arrived, officials added.
The vehicle belongs to Juniata-based Medstar EMS, one of more than two dozen ambulance companies licensed to operate in Philadelphia. A Medstar representative declined to comment Sunday, saying the crash remains under investigation.