Jury Awards $225K Over Fatal Indiana Ambulance Crash

A jury has ruled that a southern Indiana fire department must pay $225,000 to the estate of a 75-year-old woman killed when an ambulance hit her car in 2009.

The Clark County jury reached the verdict after a trial last week over the crash between the Sellersburg Volunteer Fire Department ambulance and a car driven by Opal Couch of Jeffersonville.

Fire department attorney Rodney Scott tells the News and Tribune that he expects to appeal the decision. Scott says the ambulance had its lights and sirens activated and Couch was using a cellphone when the crash happened.

The family’s attorney, Carl Reynolds, says the money was justifiable compensation for Couch’s death. Reynolds says he hopes the verdict will lead to safer ambulance driving.