San Diego

A 58-year-old Ocean Beach man was killed and another man was injured Thursday when a Hartson’s ambulance responding to a traffic accident collided with a car as it entered the intersection of West Point Loma Boulevard and Midway Drive, officials said.

Clyde Joseph Ducote was taken to Sharp-Cabrillo Hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time after the accident, officials said.

The car’s driver, John Francis Kamp, 41, of Ocean Beach was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center, where he was listed in fair condition Friday, hospital officials said.

The ambulance was dispatched at 5:11 p.m. from Sharp-Cabrillo Hospital to a traffic accident on eastbound Interstate 8 at Hotel Circle, said Tom Morgan, chief financial officer for Hartson’s Ambulance Service. About three blocks before reaching the intersection, Morgan said, the paramedics used an instrument to automatically change traffic lights from red to green.

“Reports are still being gathered by the San Diego Police Department at this time,” Morgan said Friday. “However, the statements by the paramedics and witnesses at the scene confirm that the responding ambulance had a green light well before it proceeded into the intersection.”

The ambulance traveled to the scene with its sirens and red lights flashing, Morgan said, adding, “All indications are that company policy was followed in this case.”

Police are investigating the accident.

Paramedics immediately called another ambulance, Morgan said, and a doctor at the scene assisted them in treating both men.

Ducote was taken to Sharp-Cabrillo by a Medevac ambulance, Morgan said. A paramedic from the ambulance involved in the accident accompanied Ducote to the hospital. Another Hartson’s ambulance was called to transport Kamp to UC San Diego Medical Center, Morgan said.

“Given the circumstances, they actually performed in an exemplary fashion,” he said.

Neither of the paramedics, whose names were withheld, was injured, he said. But “they were obviously emotionally distraught over the incident.”

“Our company has not had a unit involved in an injury accident for as long as I can remember,” said Morgan, who has worked eight years for Hartson’s.