Four People Injured in Crash Involving SUV, Ambulance

Four people were injured in a crash involving a SUV and an ambulance at Merchant and Temple in Effingham Tuesday afternoon.

Effingham city police report the crash occurred just before 2:30pm when the SUV driven by 17-year-old Peyton Rueter of Effingham pulled into the path of, and was struck by, the Abbott EMS ambulance driven by 24-year-old Tyler Thomas of Effingham.

Both drivers were injured, as were two passengers in the ambulance, 32-year-old Whitney Gage of Neoga and 25-year-old Taylor Geldert of Mattoon. Neither of the ambulance passengers were being taken for treatment, one was an attendant, the other was a student. All four injured were transported by ambulance to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital in Effingham.

Rueter was cited for failure to yield and for disobeying a traffic control device.