Ambulance driver in fatal crash didn’t report convictions
The following article underscores the importance developing a background screening program to conduct random background checks on employees. This practice has been widely utilized with drug testing and has provided great insight into an individual’s character.
A Louisville Metro ambulance driver involved in an accident that killed a passenger last April has committed two traffic offenses and pleaded guilty to passing bad checks since being hired by Louisville Metro government in June 2006.
Tammy Renee Brewer also violated state law when she failed to notify the state Board of Emergency Medical Services of her January 2007 misdemeanor conviction for theft by deception in connection with the insufficient-funds checks, according to Charles O’Neal, the board’s executive director.
Had Brewer told the board of her conviction, it would have triggered a review of her record, O’Neal said. That, in turn, might have resulted in closer scrutiny of Brewer, O’Neal said, including more frequent background checks and a timely awareness of Brewer’s conviction last January for driving a personal vehicle 23 miles over the speed limit in a school zone.
Although the individual offenses might not have warranted board action against Brewer’s certification, “it would certainly be something to set off alarm bells, to be watching that individual,” O’Neal said.
Brewer, 35, also pleaded guilty in January 2007 to operating a motor vehicle without insurance. She recently returned to work at an EMS desk job after taking personal leave following the April 3 accident that killed Vicki Whobrey, metro government spokeswoman Kerri Richardson said.
EMS officials declined to be interviewed, but Richardson said Brewer was not required to report the traffic or misdemeanor offenses to local EMS officials. Citing ongoing investigations by the city and by Shively police, Richardson declined to say what the city might have done had it known about Brewer’s legal problems.
