By Beth Alston

AMERICUS — An ambulance driver from a metro Atlanta EMS company fell asleep at the wheel Thursday while transporting an Americus patient back home.
According to the Georgia State Patrol Post 10, Americus, which investigated, the Central Emergency Medical Services ambulance of Canton, was being driven by Letwonda Chaney, 35, of Atlanta. Troopers were contacted at 5:30 p.m. Thursday to respond to U.S. Highway 19 North in Schley County.
The trooper’s report narrative states that the ambulance was traveling south on 19 in the inside lane, and while negotiating a curve, the vehicle left the roadway and traveled 421 feet on the medium. When the driver overcorrected, the vehicle traveled across both the southbound lanes toward the west shoulder where it continued to travel 103 feet on the shoulder. The ambulance rotated counterclockwise and overturned several times over a distance of 100 feet, finally coming to an uncontrolled rest 39 feet west of 19 on its right side facing east.
The report says the driver and all occupants were belted in the vehicle. The driver, and two other EMTs, Isis Davis, 23, and Baylee Bruno, 32, both of Douglasville, were taken by another ambulance to Phoebe Sumter Medical Center for treatment. The patient being transported, Willie Odums, 67, of Americus, sustained head injuries and was also taken for treatment.
The reporting trooper wrote that Chaney said she dozed off while driving. She is charged with failure to maintain lane.