A 25-year-old sanitation worker for Trash Pro Service, Terry Sisson, was making his early-morning rounds at 5 a.m. on Oct. 29 when he signalled for the car behind him to stop. As he waved a thank-you at the driver and stepped across the dividing line of Highway 113, an ambulance heading northbound accidentally struck Sisson, according to Georgia State Patrol Trooper Brent Williams.

The ambulance was on its way to pick up a transport patient in Villa Rica, but because there was no patient on board and it was not an emergency call, the siren was turned off.

“It was just one of those tragic accidents,” Director of Operations for West Georgia Ambulance Shane Bell said. “Nobody could have seen it coming.”

Though the ambulance driver was an Emergency Medical Technician, Bell said no amount of training could have prepared her for the emotion of that morning.

“She was upset and distraught at the time,” Bell said. “But she still went to her training to try to treat the patient.”

The EMT driver, along with the other EMT and paramedic in the ambulance, worked to try to stabilize Sisson on the scene.

“She went to work and they kept him alive as long as they could,” Williams said.

Sisson was then transported by another ambulance to Tanner Medical Center in Villa Rica where he was met by his mother and sister.

Medical personnel planned to transfer Sisson to Erlanger Hospital in Chattanooga, Tenn., for treatment, but he died in Villa Rica before they could make the trip, according to Williams.

The ambulance driver, who had only worked for the company for about a year before the accident, reportedly broke down after additional personnel arrived on the scene.

“She did really well during the time when she was caring for him,” Williams said. “She reacted and did her job, but once EMS showed up she was torn up and very distraught.”

To help the driver come to terms with the accident, Bell said West Georgia Ambulance provided counseling.

The EMT has since returned to work.

“Of course she is still upset, but she is doing better,” Bell said. “We made sure she was well enough to return to work.”

Williams explained that the accident was just that, a “horrible accident,” and neither West Georgia Ambulance nor the driver will be charged because the ambulance’s speed was not a contributing factor.

“This type of thing happens too often,” Williams said. “We work too many. Even just one is too many.”