FEBRUARY 27, 2015
PREMIER, WEST VIRGINIA
A McDowell County man
who told a state trooper that he was out to pick up a pack of cigarettes for a
female friend, was arrested for DUI and reckless driving after crashing into an
ambulance that was transporting a patient.
William Carson Runyon, 41, of Premier, was traveling north
on U.S. Route 52 last weekend when he entered a left curve, spun out in his
2012 Nissan Pathfinder, crashed into a McDowell County Ambulance Authority
vehicle that was transporting a patient, and drove the ambulance into the guard
rail.
“He said he was heading to Roderfield to pick up a pack of
cigarettes for a woman,” Senior Trooper J.C. Mann of the Welch Detachment, West
Virginia State Police, said. “The ambulance was torn up pretty bad, but I don’t
think either of the workers were injured. Another ambulance came out, continued
transporting the patient and took the two workers with them.”
According to Mann, Runyon registered a 0.088 on a breath
analyzer, where 0.08 is over the legal limit. The wreck occurred at about 2:15
p.m., on Feb. 21. Mann said that he arrested Runyon for DUI and reckless
driving. He added that he did not consider weather to have been a factor in the
crash.