Woman Killed In Ambulance Crash

POSTED: 1:46 pm EDT April 3, 2008
UPDATED: 1:48 pm EDT April 3, 2008

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A woman on her way to the hospital was killed after the
ambulance transporting her crashed.

The wreck happened around 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the corner of Rockford Lane
and Van Hoose Road in Shively.

Vicki Whobrey, 54, was taken to University Hospital, where she died from
injuries sustained in the crash.

According to the ambulance's driver, an unknown person ran across the road.
The driver swerved to avoid the pedestrian, causing the vehicle to sideswipe
a utility pole, run into a culvert and slam into a fence.

"I'd heard an explosion kind of woke me up," said neighbor Ron Humphries.
"By the time I got out of the house there was already sirens and of course,
blue lights and I think three or four ambulances and fire trucks, police
cars. It seems like they did a really good job of getting here right after
it happened."

"I think the initial officer was there within a minute," said Shively Police
Chief Col. Ralph Miller. "He just happened to be in the area around Rockford
Lane and Dixie Highway. Other med units arrived on the scene promptly."

Due to privacy laws, officials cannot say why Whobrey was being taken to the
hospital, but they did say the ambulance was "in a hurry" to get there.