Cops: Dump truck driver hit Riverhead ambulance with pipe
The Riverhead police said they arrested and charged a Bronx man Thursday after he allegedly got out of his dump truck and hit an ambulance with a metal pipe following a traffic dispute in South Jamesport.
Credit: NEWSDAY PHOTO/Daniel Goodrich
The Riverhead police have arrested and charged a Bronx dump truck driver after he allegedly attacked an ambulance with a metal pipe Thursday in South Jamesport.
Police said the Riverhead Town Volunteer Ambulance had been responding to a 911 call with lights and sirens on about 9:20 a.m. The ambulance driver attempted a left turn onto East Second Street in South Jamesport as the dump truck driver, identified by the police as Hamlet O. Ramirez, 26, tried making a right turn from the street to head north on West Street.
Police said when the two vehicles came to an impasse, the ambulance driver waved at the dump truck driver to back up to allow the emergency vehicle to pass.
"The driver of the truck refused to move the truck and instead became involved in a verbal dispute over which vehicle had the right of way at the intersection," the Riverhead police said in a new release. "The driver of the truck exited his vehicle and continued the verbal argument and then got back into the truck and began inching his truck towards the side of the ambulance."
The ambulance driver then "drove up onto a nearby property and around the truck," the release continued. The dump truck driver "exited his vehicle and ran towards the ambulance, holding a metal pipe. As he approached the driver's side of the ambulance, the male began striking the rear portion of the ambulance causing damage to the body of the vehicle."
Police said the ambulance driver flagged down a police officer, who arrested Ramirez. He was charged with obstruction of governmental administration, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief.
Neither court information for Ramirez nor whether he obtained a lawyer were immediately available late Thursday.
John Asbury is a breaking news and general assignment reporter. He has been with Newsday since 2014 and previously worked at The Press-Enterprise in Riverside, California.
