Four injured in downtown wreck

Four people were injured last Tuesday when a passenger vehicle and a Telfair County ambulance collided at the intersection of Tallahassee Street and Hinson Street in the middle of downtown Hazlehurst.
While the injuries were minor, the accident caused significant damage to the brick planters and traffic control equipment in the parking lot at the intersection of South Tallahassee Street and Hinson Street.
The ambulance was transferring a patient at the time of the accident and was traveling south on Tallahassee Street.
According to a report from the Georgia State Patrol, the passenger vehicle, a 2013 Nissan Altima, was stopped facing west at the traffic signal on Hinson Street. When the driver, Jeffery Black of Jacksonville, Fla., received the green light to proceed, he attempted to turn from Hinson Street onto South Tallahassee Street when the ambulance struck the vehicle.
After impact, the ambulance traveled approximately 65 feet and left the roadway to the left, striking a road sign and crashing through a brick planter wall, ending up facing east in the parking lot behind the planter wall.
After the impact, the passenger vehicle left the roadway and knocked down a Georgia Department of Transportation traffic signal control box, crashed through the brick planter wall and came to rest in the parking lot facing southeast.
The ambulance driver, who was not named in the accident report, said he was enroute to Jeff Davis Hospital with a patient and had been engaging in radio communication with the hospital as he approached the intersection. He said he looked down to hang up the radio microphone and when he looked up, the vehicle was in his travel lane. He thought the traffic light was green at the time of the accident.
The Black said the traffic light was green when he entered Tallahassee Street and that the ambulance did not have emergency lights and siren in operation.
A video of the crash was obtained from security cameras at Allie Lynn’s Boutique located on the corner of Tallahassee and Hinson streets.
Black and the passenger in the back of the ambulance, Brianna Martin of McRae, were transferred by ambulance to Jeff Davis Hospital. The ambulance driver and William Sumner of Eastman, who was in the back of the ambulance with the patient, received minor injuries or voiced complaints and were not transported to the hospital.