LINCOLN RESIDENT DIES IN AMBULANCE WRECK

By Jon Mayhew [STANLY] -- Richard Bryant, 51, survived a serious van accident in eastern Lincoln County in November 2008 when several bystanders pulled him from the wreckage.

Tuesday, the brother, son and father died after the ambulance he was riding in crashed on Interstate 20 in South Carolina.

Bryant was being transported from a burn center in Augusta, Ga., to a Winston-Salem hospital at the time of the crash.

Reports indicated the ambulance ran off the road, struck a sign and a tree, then overturned after crashing into a concrete median.

Highway patrol investigators said the accident happened in Lexington County around 12:40pm Tuesday.

Authorities said Bryant died from chest injuries as a result of the crash.

Bryant's sister, Pamela Phillips, said that Bryant "was struggling to live so long and fighting so hard."


Richard Bryant survived a van fire last year and was taken to a burn center in Georgia. He died Tuesday after the ambulance he was in crashed in South Carolina.
Photo Contributed/TCS

Bryant had been recovering at the burn center since early November when he crashed his van into an embankment along Highway 73 in Lincoln County and the van burst into flames. Several bystanders pulled him from the vehicle.

Authorities said that after Tuesday’s crash, Bryant just wanted to comfort his wife. He asked paramedics to call his wife’s cell phone.

The Highway Patrol's special investigation team is looking at the ambulance wreck.