Driver who collided with ambulance in Largo arrested, deputies say

A driver who ran a red light in Largo earlier this month and collided with an ambulance, injuring three passengers, has been arrested, officials said.

Pinellas officers arrested 41-year-old Willie Lee Daniels Jr. on Tuesday for drunken driving, reckless driving and fleeing and eluding, all resulting in serious bodily injury. Daniels was also injured and hospitalized following the May 18 crash.

According to information previously released by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, Daniels was stopped for a traffic violation at 2:44 a.m. that morning, but fled at a high rate of speed and caused the accident a few minutes later.

A Med Fleet ambulance, driven by 25-year-old Derrick Gil, was before the crash, he was traveling westbound on East Bay Drive, east of North Missouri Avenue. The ambulance was transporting a 70-year-old patient who was being treated by 28-year-old paramedic Ashley Markel, according to the sheriff’s office.

According to investigators, the ambulance was traveling about 35 miles per hour when it entered the intersection of East Bay Drive and North Missouri Avenue on a solid green light. Daniels was driving a 2014 BMW X1 north on Seminole Boulevard when he entered the intersection and struck the ambulance at a high rate of speed, causing it to spin and tip onto its side.

Gil was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries. Markel, Daniels and the patient in the ambulance were taken to the hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Shortly before the accident, officers attempted to stop Daniels for an unidentified violation near Ridge Road and Ulmerton Road. Daniels initially stopped for officers, but then quickly made a U-turn and fled north on Seminole Boulevard, deputies said.

The deputy did not pursue Daniels, investigators said, but deactivated its lights and sirens and resumed normal operation.

The sheriff’s office has not released information about the evidence that showed Daniels was impaired. An arrest affidavit was not immediately available.

Daniels was being held without bail in the Pinellas County Jail on Wednesday.