ALBANY, Ga. (WALB) — Nearly a year after a Dougherty County EMS ambulance rolled over and injured eight people, including a newborn baby, the EMT who helped deliver the baby says the crash was a miracle— and his legal battle and recovery that followed were a blessing in disguise.

Ashton Holloway, now 29, was riding in the back of the ambulance on Sept. 6, 2025, his first day on the job, when the vehicle crashed and rolled at the intersection of Pine Avenue and Monroe Street while transporting a woman in active labor to the hospital.

IMAGES FROM THE WRECKAGE

Holloway said he suffered eight compression fractures, five broken ribs, and a collapsed lung. All eight people involved in the three-vehicle crash were taken to Phoebe Main with non-life-threatening injuries.

No one died, according to officials.

“First day on the job, first call, first time I’ve ever had a part of delivering a newborn,” Holloway said.

Holloway said his own legal case against Dougherty County was settled in March of 2026, which he said is the reason he’s now able to speak publicly about the crash.

The EMT’s frightening first-hand account

Holloway graduated EMT school in May of 2025 and started working in Dougherty County in September.

The day of the crash, crews responded to a woman in active labor in Albany. When they didn’t see signs of an imminent birth, Holloway said they loaded her into the ambulance for a standard transport. But during the drive, the mother’s contractions accelerated and she gave birth in the back of the moving ambulance.

“This is so surreal,” Holloway remembered about the newborn delivery. “This is in my face. This is actually happening.”

But moments after the delivery, Holloway said chaos ensued and he was abruptly thrown from the back of the ambulance, hitting his head. He was knocked unconscious.

Dashcam video from Sept. 6 shows the ambulance run through a red light, colliding with a truck, and flipping.

RAW DASHCAM VIDEO:

“The last thing I seen was my partner frantically searching for this child,” Holloway said. “He reached down, picked up the baby by the arm, snatched it up off the floor. That’s the last thing I seen.”

Questions about protocol inside the ambulance

Holloway said standard protocol calls for crews to pull over when a delivery is in progress.

“What you’re supposed to do is pull over and reassess the situation, handle it, make sure everybody is secured in seatbelts,” he said.

But as a brand-new employee, Holloway said he deferred to the more experienced provider next to him.

“I just trusted the guy to my left of me and he just said, ‘keep going,’ so we kept going,” Holloway said.

He said the driver was looking backward at the crew after the baby was delivered.

“That could have totally been avoided, the whole accident, had he just stopped, cleared the intersection like we’re supposed to do,” Holloway said.

According to a Georgia State Patrol report, the ambulance was headed north on Monroe Street approaching the Pine Avenue intersection when it hit a black Ford that was headed east on Pine. The truck then hit another car that was going west on Pine.

The driver of the ambulance was listed at-fault. The driver reported they were distracted from patient care before the crash and was unsure if that traffic light on Monroe Street was red or green.

“They just drive how they want,” Holloway said of ambulance drivers generally. “I think [the driver] just got too comfortable, just not paying attention and not using due regard.”

Holloway said the ambulance was roughly four minutes from the hospital when the crash happened.

Dougherty County’s response

WALB sent Dougherty County a list of questions, including some about labor and delivery protocol and whether any safety measures or procedures changed after the crash. The county said it still could not discuss the specific circumstances of the crash because claims related to the incident remain pending.

Holloway said his own case has been resolved; he believes the ongoing litigation the county referenced involves the mother and newborn.

In its statement, Dougherty County EMS said crews are trained to handle labor and delivery calls “while maintaining a safe environment for the patient, EMS personnel, and other motorists,” and that specific actions “can depend on the patient’s condition, the stage of labor, and the circumstances of the transport.”

WALB asked about the driver’s current employment status. At the time of publication, WALB had not received a response.

WALB also filed an open records request, Tuesday, Sept. 1 seeking the labor and delivery protocols in effect at the time of the crash, policies on EMS personnel restraints, internal incident reports, and any policy changes made since the crash.

Reconnecting with the mother & newborn

This past Easter, Holloway reached out to the baby’s mother for the first time since the crash.

“Really for my mental health,” he said. “I could kind of say my piece and hear anything that she had to say.”

He said she and the baby are recovering, but she has faced financial strain in the year since the wreck. WALB reached out to the mother for this story, but did not get a response.

A long recovery, and a fight over pay

Holloway’s injuries kept him out of work for months. He also described the emotional toll the situation took on him.

“Right after the accident, it was pretty much like I couldn’t even change myself,” he said. “You go from looking forward to something that you’ve studied for for so long, actually getting your hands in it, and then it’s just all just taken away from you in a moment’s notice.”

During his recovery, Holloway said Dougherty County paid him a minimum 12 hours a week in workers’ compensation, about $142 to $144 a week, far less than he says he was told to expect. After months of what he described as unanswered questions, he hired an attorney.

“Once I did that, it was all bets are off the table. They quit communicating,” Holloway said.

On New Year’s Eve, Holloway learned he no longer had a job. WALB obtained an email sent to dozens of Dougherty County EMS employees that listed his county email address for removal, citing “no longer employed.” Soon after, a second email told staff to disregard the message, calling it an error.

“I would rather they just called me in their office and said, ‘Listen, we’ve got this litigation going on, we’ve got to part ways,’” he said. “But nobody said anything to me.”

Holloway continues working as an EMT

Nearly a year later, Holloway is working as an EMT again in another county.

“I’m not a quitter. It’s not in my character,” he said. “If I’m physically capable of doing the work, then I’m going to get out there and do it... I’ve already completed the school for it.”

Dougherty County EMS said in a statement it remains “grateful that the paramedics, mother, and baby were safe following such a frightening ordeal.”

Holloway had a message for the mother whose life also changed the day of the crash.

“To the mom and the baby,” he said, “I’m praying for them. Always will.”

Dougherty County EMS full statement below:

Dougherty County EMS cares deeply about the health, safety and well-being of every patient entrusted to our care, as well as the safety of our EMS personnel and the public. Our personnel are trained to provide care to patients experiencing labor and delivery while maintaining a safe environment for the patient, EMS personnel and other motorists. When a delivery occurs or appears imminent during transport, crews follow established clinical and safety protocols based on the circumstances, including monitoring the mother and baby and providing appropriate care.

At the same time, ambulance operations require crews to consider roadway and vehicle safety. The specific actions taken can depend on the patient’s condition, the stage of labor and the circumstances of the transport. The overarching priorities are providing appropriate patient care while operating the ambulance as safely as possible.

EMS personnel also follow applicable safety requirements and protocols governing operations inside a moving ambulance. Crews use designated seating and appropriate restraints when conditions permit. There can be circumstances in which patient care requires a paramedic or other EMS provider to access or attend to a patient in the patient compartment. Those decisions are guided by the patient’s needs, the circumstances at the time and applicable safety protocols. Specific requirements can vary depending on the situation.

Because claims relating to the September 2025 incident are pending, Dougherty County cannot comment on the specific circumstances of the incident, including any review of procedures associated with the crash or the dash-camera video.

A crash involving an ambulance is a frightening situation for everyone involved, and we are thankful the outcome was not more serious. We remain grateful that the paramedics, mother and baby were safe following such a frightening ordeal, and we wish them continued health and well-being.

We also want to recognize and thank the dedicated men and women of Dougherty County EMS who work every day to care for people during some of their most vulnerable moments. Their work requires compassion, professionalism and a commitment to serving others, often under difficult and unpredictable circumstances. We appreciate their continued dedication to the residents of Dougherty County and thank our community for the trust placed in our EMS professionals each day.

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