** Illinois police open criminal investigation into fatal ambulance crash; EMS driver had poor driving record and felony convictions
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Illinois police in Bellwood have opened a criminal investigation into a fatal ambulance crash that claimed the lives of two medics and a patient last weekend. ABC7Chicago (Chuck Goudie/April 5) quoted the local police chief as saying the look-see was being undertaken with the aid of the state police. Initial information from the accident has determined that medic/driver James D. Wesley, 51, had also been involved in a 2010 incident in which he broadsided a car. In that instance, police found he had driven into an intersection while traffic was already present. Damages from that crash remain unpaid. Wesley’s driver’s licence, meanwhile, was revoked, but returned to him three years later. Along with his dubious driving record, Wesley had also racked up several felony convictions for drug possession, theft, and criminal damage to property. Behind the wheel of the ambulance in last Saturday’s smash, he lost control of the vehicle and careened into a wall. He died instantly, while his fellow medic Prentis Williams, 50, perished later in hospital. Patient Larry Marshal Jr. also died.
