Original thread here

That is a recent thread about Lafayette county Arkansas Deputy Stacy McMurrough. He was killed last weekend and laid to rest yesterday morning. He was not wearing his seatbelt and lost control of his car and was ejected from it. South Arkansas is where this happened and it's mostly small rural counties and even 50 or 60 miles away, most of the emergency responders know each other. Now finding a small miracle in his death, he had no wife or kids. I wish that his death had the effect of making other local emergency responders wearing their seatbelts. Had they done so, 2 fordyce EMTs would still be alive that were killed last night, while responding to a call. One of these men did have a wife and child(ren). Details haven't come in yet but will be posted as soon as I get them.

MVA fatalies due to lack of belt usage is an all to common thread here....

www.todaysthv.com/news/news.aspx?storyid=23971

Two Arkansas emergency medical technicians (EMT) are dead after their ambulance crashed in Dallas County. It happened Wednesday night around seven as the men were on their way to a medical call in Carthage.

State police say 46-year-old Kent Goodman and 31-year-old Tim Clowers ran off Highway 273, lost control and flipped their ambulance several times.

Neither was wearing their seatbelt and both were ejected. Thursday, their fellow EMTs were trying to cope with the loss while still working to save the lives of others.

The crash happened right in front of Randy Erwin’s home in the Cooterneck community.

Erwin says, "It sounded like a big chip van or gravel truck was coming through the driveway and all of a sudden it was just a big explosion and that's when I guess it hit the tree."

Erwin described the accident as one of the worst he's ever seen, "The one boy, the driver we found him laying right here. The other boy was under the edge of the truck. You know, you find somebody in your yard like that, I mean, it's tough. It's hard to deal with."

The driver, Kent Goodman, died on impact. Timothy Clowers was still conscience when Erwin and his wife found him. Clowers died seven hours later at a Jefferson County hospital.

Tearing up, Erwin says, "[Clowers] was aware of what had happened, but he was really in pain and it's hard when you can't do nothing for them. It's really tough."

You can look at the pictures and see what’s left of the ambulance. Some fellow workers at Emergency Ambulance Service, Inc. out of Pine Bluff say they can't bear to look at the wreckage.

Fellow paramedic Cheryl Smith says, "It was something that you don't even dream about happening, not to you, not to anyone, and it happened to us."

EASI Owner Kenneth Starnes says, "You’re never prepared for something like this."

Goodman and Clowers worked for Starnes for more than three years.

Starnes describes the two men, "You never talked to them for two minutes without laughing; you just couldn't do it. They were always cutting up and making everyone laugh. They were super, well thought of in the community."

Starnes says they died doing a job they loved. A job those left behind have to continue despite their immeasurable pain.

"It’s not the tragedy that stops you," says Smith. "It's what you can do for someone that keeps you going."

Goodman who lived in Redfield leaves behind a wife and two teenage children. Clowers was single and living in Sheridan.

A memorial fund for both families has been set up at Simmons Bank. You can donate at any branch. Just ask for the Timothy Clowers or Kent Goodman Memorial Fund.

Experts say ambulance accidents are the number one killers of EMS workers. You may remember that almost exactly one year ago, three EMTs in Hope were killed when they were on a call and a train collided with their ambulance.