EMT giving aid at car crash killed by passing vehicle, cops say. ‘Beautiful soul’
An emergency medical technician known for her “love and compassion” was killed by a vehicle while helping others in a separate car crash in Alabama, a Mississippi Emergency Medical Service group said.
While returning from a medical call in Mobile, an ASAP EMS ambulance from Mississippi made a stop to provide aid in a car crash on Dec. 30, according to a Mobile Police Department news release. A car had rear-ended a vehicle towing a trailer in the wreck, police said.
Another driver, later identified as 35-year-old Michael Thomas, then struck one of the vehicle drivers and Mary “Katie” Pipkins, one of the EMS responders, according to the department. The 30-year-old EMT was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.
The driver who was hit had non-life-threatening injuries, according to police.
The emergency transport group Pipkins was a part of, ASAP EMS of Mississippi, said in a Dec. 31 letter that Pipkins was a “beautiful soul,” as well as an “amazing friend and colleague.” She consistently raised the bar for EMS standards, the company said, and served as an “inspiration to her fellow coworkers.”
“Her love and compassion knew no bounds,” the group’s operations manager Rusty Hembree wrote in the letter.
Several EMS groups across the country, including in Missouri and Louisiana, posted in remembrance of Pipkins on Facebook. Plains Community Ambulance from Montana urged people to be more careful when driving by first responders, calling Pipkins’ death “absolutely preventable.”
Pipkins’ death was the “ultimate sacrifice,” City of Conway Springs EMS from Kansas wrote in a Facebook tribute to the EMT. Her commitment to helping people and giving “compassionate care” would be a part of her legacy, the organization said.
“She will be remembered as a hero, and her service to the community will never be forgotten,” Conway Springs EMS said in the post.
Thomas, the suspected driver, was arrested and charged with manslaughter, assault and DUI, police said. He also was arrested four previous times for DUI since 2010, according to Mobile County jail records, per AL.com’s report.
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