Worker Fired Over Aiding Crash Victim

The driver of a shuttle for the elderly and disabled was fired for insubordination after she stopped to help a girl who had been hit by a car.

Dawne Hamblin, 25, was fired Wednesday after she refused an order from a dispatcher at Lifeline Transports to complete her scheduled route.

“I took matters into my own hands . . . and did what I needed to do,” said Hamblin, who had worked for Lifeline Transports since September. She also is a police volunteer.

Hamblin said she asked a passer-by to call 911, and directed traffic at the busy intersection and watched over the girl until an ambulance arrived. In the meantime, she radioed her dispatcher, Albert Hall, who told her to leave and continue her route, she said.

When she refused to do so, Hall came to the site, fired her and took the van to continue the route himself. Hall said police were on the scene when he arrived, and that Hamblin should have left when ordered to. “It’s not like she was the only one there,” he said.

The 9-year-old girl suffered minor head injuries and a broken ankle.