Victim who died in ambulance-related Triad crash slid off gurney during collision, medical report reveals

By JD Franklin III

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    North Carolina (WXII) — New information is surfacing about a Triad ambulance crash that left a 92-year-old dead.

Officials said the crash happened March 11 around 10:10 a.m. in the area of the 6600 block of Silas Creek Parkway in the southbound lanes.

According to findings from the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 92-year-old Omer Pope was being taken to a local hospital for shortness of breath. That was when a Jeep Cherokee, operated by Diane Langford, 52, crossed the center median and collided with the ambulance head-on.

The report said Pope was strapped to a gurney inside the ambulance, but he slid off during the crash. He was pronounced dead just a few minutes afterward.

Reports revealed that Pope’s “probable cause of death” was atlanto-occipital dislocation due to blunt trauma to the head.

According to the National Library of Medicine, atlanto-occipital dislocation is a highly unstable craniocervical injury, resulting from damage to ligaments and/or bony structures connecting the skull to the cervical spine.

Officials with the Winston-Salem Police Department said Langford was charged with misdemeanor death by vehicle and failure to maintain lane control.

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