Florida motorist, 41, who cops say sideswiped ambulance, injured paramedic, found asleep on couch when deputies confront him

A Florida motorist was arrested Tuesday after Polk County deputies said he sideswiped an ambulance and injured a paramedic in the crash, WFLA-TV reported.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said an ambulance was traveling north on Harden Boulevard when a driver in a Volkswagen Jetta made a U-turn in front of the ambulance, the station said.

‘He was vulgar and rude to the deputy and had to be removed from the patrol car after he refused to get out of it.’

“After completing the U-turn, the Jetta entered the lane occupied by the ambulance, and the vehicles collided,” the sheriff’s office said, according to WFLA.

Deputies said the Jetta driver then left the scene of the crash, the station reported, while a paramedic in the back of the ambulance was taken to a hospital with a neck injury following the crash.

The sheriff’s office told WFLA that deputies went to the home where the Jetta was registered and spoke with the owner of the car — and she said her nephew had been driving it.

Gregory McManus, 41, was found asleep on a couch, deputies told the station.

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“When deputies awakened him, he admitted that he had been involved in the crash, but claimed it was the ambulance driver’s fault,” Polk deputies said, according to the station.

The sheriff’s office said video from the ambulance “clearly showed that McManus had caused the crash,” WFLA noted.

Sheriff Grady Judd had this to say, according to the station: “Gregory McManus not only caused the crash, he fled from the scene without checking on anybody, and then had the audacity to claim the other driver was at fault. He was vulgar and rude to the deputy and had to be removed from the patrol car after he refused to get out of it. I doubt there is a responsible bone in his body.”

McManus was arrested and charged with leaving the scene of a crash with injury, WFLA said.

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