A Georgia grandfather was killed and his teenage grandson seriously injured after an ambulance struck them while they were trying to fix a broken-down car on a highway in Oconee County on Sunday night.
John Carter Martin, 17-year-old Connor Lee Schoon's grandfather, had stopped his Ford F-150 to help after Schoon's Toyota Camry broke down in the westbound lanes of Atlanta Highway near Whitehead Road around 9:50 p.m., according to the Georgia State Patrol.
Investigators said Martin parked his truck in front of the disabled Camry, and both got out to attempt repairs. While they were outside their vehicles, a westbound Northeast Georgia Medical Center ambulance slammed into the rear of the Camry, sending all three vehicles onto the north shoulder and pinning both men beneath the ambulance, the Oconee County Coroner reported.
Schoon was critically injured and taken to Piedmont Athens Regional Medical Center before being airlifted to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. His mother, Jennifer Martinez, said he suffered multiple lacerations, a broken left clavicle and internal bleeding from a lacerated spleen, requiring a 3.5-hour emergency surgery. He has since been moved out of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and is in stable condition.
Martinez said her son told her both vehicles had their hazard lights on and were pulled far enough off the road. “He kept asking me, his dad and step-dad, where was Papa?” Martinez told Atlanta News First. “We told him the harsh truth today. He remembers seeing Papa getting hit as well.”
The Georgia State Patrol's Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team is investigating, and charges are possible. A spokesperson for Northeast Georgia Medical Center said, 'Our hearts go out to everyone involved... We are cooperating with the accident investigation.'
