'The snow brings out the worst in humanity'
An Upper Darby man was charged with crimes relating to snowblowing after police said his insistence on clearing snow from his property during the middle of the weekend's snowstorm resulted in an ambulance crash.
NOW THIS WAS a low blow.
An Upper Darby man was charged with crimes relating to snowblowing after police said his insistence on clearing snow from his property during the middle of the weekend's snowstorm resulted in an ambulance crash.
"I think the snow brings out the worst in humanity," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said. "I mean, this was the middle of a ... blizzard, the ambulance goes to a call and they arrive and this [guy] snowblows the snow onto the front windshield of the ambulance!"
According to Chitwood, during the height of the weekend's snowfall there were two Crozer-Keystone Health System ambulances designated to cover Upper Darby Township. Around 9:30 p.m. Saturday, one of the ambulances got a call to head to Timberlake Road near Patterson Avenue for a report of a 53-year-old man vomiting blood.
It was also around 9:30 p.m. that Joseph Ross, 41, decided it would be a good time to snowblow all of the snow on his property into the middle of the road, police said. Ross lives across the street from the man who was in medical distress and required the ambulance, according to Chitwood.
With its lights and sirens activated, the ambulance turned onto Timberlake Road, but Ross gave it the cold shoulder and continued snowblowing into the middle of the street and right onto the windshield of the ambulance, police said.
"The driver was blinded and he crashed into a snowbank. The other paramedic couldn't get out of the door and had to crawl out of the driver's side," Chitwood said. "Obviously, this guy endangered an entire community because of a lack of common sense."
Chitwood said there was no way Ross could have missed the ambulance coming down his street.
"To miss it, you'd have to be blind," he said. "An ambulance with its lights on is not just going to Dunkin' Donuts for coffee. It's going to save a life."
After the crash, both paramedics in the ambulance rushed to the man in need of medical care. They stabilized the patient and then called for the only remaining ambulance in the township to transport him, police said.
To deal with the disabled ambulance, the police, the fire department, a salt truck, a plow truck, and a tow truck were called to the scene, Chitwood said.
All the while, Ross kept on snowblowing his property, according to police.
"He was more interested in plowing the snow off his ground than his neighbor's well-being," Chitwood said.
It took about two hours for the ambulance to be pulled from the snowbank, police said.
After conferring with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, police filed a misdemeanor charge of obstructing emergency services against Ross on Monday night as well as a summary violation for violating the township's snow-removal ordinance, which prohibits residents from throwing snow into the street, Chitwood said.
Ross turned himself in Tuesday and was arraigned on $10,000 unsecured bail, according to Chitwood.
When reached by phone Tuesday, Ross declined to comment on whether or not he felt the charges were overblown.
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