Dump truck driver attacks Riverhead ambulance rushing to medical emergency: police  

A sleepy intersection on the edge of South Jamesport was the scene of a harrowing road rage incident on Thursday morning, in which a dump truck driver used a metal pipe to batter a Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance heading to an emergency call — following a verbal altercation over right of way, according to police.

Shortly after 9 a.m., Riverhead police received a 911 call about an elderly Jamesport man in need of medical assistance. Patrol officers responded while alerting the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps, which responded as well.

With its lights flashing and its piercing siren wailing, the ambulance was headed south on West Street, a block from the waterfront, when it attempted to make a left turn onto East Second St.

A dump truck in its path was trying to make a right onto West Street going northbound, according to police.

“The driver of the ambulance motioned for the driver of the truck to back the vehicle up so that the ambulance could proceed,” a Riverhead Police report reads. “The driver of the truck refused to move the truck and instead became involved in a verbal dispute over which vehicle had the right of way at the intersection.”

Authorities say the dump truck driver “exited his vehicle and continued the verbal argument and then got back into the truck and began inching his truck towards the side of the ambulance.

“The driver of the ambulance took evasive measures and drove up onto a nearby property and around the truck. The verbal argument continued, and the driver of the truck exited his vehicle and ran towards the ambulance, holding a metal pipe. As he approached the driver’s side of the ambulance, the male began striking the rear portion of the ambulance causing damage to the body of the vehicle.”

The ambulance driver flagged down a uniformed officer and reported the incident.

Police arrested Hamlet O. Ramirez of the Bronx, New York. On Thursday evening he was being held pending an arraignment on charges of obstructing governmental administration, menacing, criminal possession of a weapon and criminal mischief.

Two officials from the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps did not immediately respond to a request for comment — nor was it clear whether Mr. Ramirez has retained an attorney. A spokesperson for the East End bureau of the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County, located in Riverhead, took a message but couldn’t say whether any attorneys from the group were involved in the case.

It was also unclear what happened to the elderly Jamesport man in need of medical assistance. A Riverhead Police spokesperson said she could not divulge any further information about the incident beyond what was included in the department’s press release.

Detectives are actively investigating the case, according to resident Joe Broyles, whose home sits on the corner of West St. and East Second St. Mr. Broyles said he was not at home and not an eyewitness to the incident, but agreed to share his Amazon Ring home security video surveillance camera footage with investigators.

“The detective just left,” Mr. Broyles said in an interview. “He spent 45 minutes pouring through my footage.”

At other nearby homes in clear sight line of the intersection with Ring video surveillance systems, police detectives’ business cards stuck out from behind the distinctive Ring doorbells of residents who did not appear to be home on Thursday evening.