An accident between an ambulance and the escort vehicle accompanying State General Education Minister V Sivankutty's car a day ago at Kottarakkara here has become controversial with the ambulance driver on Thursday alleging that the mishap occurred due to the negligent and rash driving of the police jeep.
The police on the other hand laid the blame on the ambulance driver for allegedly speeding through a traffic junction without checking whether he had the signal to do so and causing the accident.
Meanwhile, an officer of Kottarakkara police station, within whose jurisdiction the incident occurred on Wednesday, said that cases for rash and negligent driving have been registered against the ambulance driver and the police officer who was behind the wheel of the escort vehicle.
The officer said that the cases were registered based on the statement given by the husband of the patient who was in the ambulance. The health of the patient and others who were in the ambulance, which toppled over in the accident, is stable, the officer said.
He also said that the CCTV visuals of the accident clearly show that the officer on traffic duty had stopped traffic briefly to allow the escort vehicle and the minister's car to pass through. "However, the ambulance driver, on reaching the traffic junction, sped through without checking if he had the signal to do so," the officer contended.
The officer also rejected the ambulance driver's claim before a TV channel that when his brother went to lodge a complaint regarding the incident, the police were rude and misbehaved with him.
The officer said that the owner of the ambulance had come to the station and he was shown the CCTV footage in order to make it clear who was at fault.
Published 13 July 2023, 10:30 IST