Drunk driver slams into ambulance, hits loaded school bus during attempted escape, Florida deputies say

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MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. - A man from New York is accused of drunkenly slamming into an ambulance transporting a patient. When he tried to flee that scene, however, he allegedly crashed into a school bus packed with 35 children. 

"The ambulance didn't stop him, but the school bus did," the Martin County Sheriff's Office wrote on Facebook about the incident involving 43-year-old Joseph Saladino. He was charged with DUI with property damage, leaving the scene of a crash and leaving the scene of a crash with injuries after the series of events that transpired in the southeast region of Florida this week. 

After Saladino allegedly fled the scene of the crash involving the ambulance, witnesses gave deputies a clear description of the car that fled the scene – and it matched the one that had crashed into the school bus. 

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Photo: Martin County Sheriff's Office

"Saladino got out of his car at the scene of the crash and didn't know where he was," deputies said. 

Deputies said Saladino was "extremely concerned" about going to jail because he said he needed to get back to New York.

"Those plans have been put on hold," deputies continued. He was transported to the Martin County Jail.

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Photo: Martin County Sheriff's Office

The school bus driver was treated for non-life-threatening injuries and released from the hospital.