2 Paramedics Injured in Portland After Driver Smashes Into Ambulance

Two unidentified American Medical Response paramedics were injured after an apparently intoxicated driver smashed into their ambulance Saturday, according to a Portland Police Bureau press release.

Just after midnight Saturday, the two medics were driving east on East Burnside Street in Portland, Oregon, when a northbound driver in a Subaru sedan smashed into their ambulance.

The driver, identified as Lacorius M. Jenkins, 18, was found unconscious and pinned inside his vehicle when PPB officers arrived on the scene. According to the press release, Portland Fire and Rescue personnel were able to remove the driver from the vehicle, and he was transported to the hospital with serious injuries. There, he was cited for driving under the influence of intoxicants and reckless driving.

The paramedics, a driver and passenger, sustained non-life-threatening injuries during the accident despite the massive damage to their ambulance. The two injured paramedics were not on their way to a 911 call at the time of the accident and did not have lights or sirens running. They did not have a patient in the ambulance at the time of the accident.

Coffee or Die Magazine reached out to American Medical Response for further comment on the incident but had not received a response at the time of publication.

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Joshua Skovlund

Staff writer

Joshua is a staff writer for Coffee or Die Magazine. He has covered the 75th anniversary of D-Day in France, multinational military exercises in Germany, and civil unrest during the 2020 riots in Minneapolis that followed the death of George Floyd. Born and raised in small-town South Dakota, Joshua grew up playing football and soccer before serving as a forward observer in the US Army. After leaving the service, he earned his CrossFit Level 1 certificate and worked as a personal trainer while earning his paramedic license. Joshua went on to work in paramedicine for more than five years, much of that time in the North Minneapolis area, before transitioning to a career in multimedia journalism. Joshua is married, has two children, and is currently pursuing his bachelor’s degree in multimedia journalism. His creative outlets include Skovlund Photography and Concentrated Emotion, which is where he publishes poetry focused on his life experiences.