DRAPER, Utah – Paramedics in a Juab County ambulance became patients Friday after Utah Highway Patrol Troopers said the psychiatric patient they were transporting caused it to roll, according to media reports.

State police were quoted as indicating that the patient somehow accessed the driver’s compartment and grabbed the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to roll. All three occupants were reportedly taken to the local hospital in serious condition, according to TELEVISION REPORTS

Initial reports were uncertain as to whether the patient was restrained or what prompted the patient attack.

COMMENT: Fortunately this incident did not involve other innocent parties on the highway, but had the ambulance struck another vehicle, the incident would potentially have resulted in liability against the transporting EMS crew for failure to adequately secure the patient. Even the patient in this incident could probably find a lawyer willing to take the case in an attempt to make the EMS crew responsible for the patient’s self-generated injuries.