Man who crashed ambulance driving his granddaughter to hospital had been sued over other crashes, records show
Robert Coleman, whose granddaughter died following the crash earlier this month, has settled four lawsuits.
The man who police say crashed a private ambulance while rushing his infant granddaughter to the hospital earlier this month, fatally wounding her and severely injuring her mother, had been accused of careless and negligent driving in four lawsuits since 2010, and in each case settled the claims, court records show.
In suits filed in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, four people said Robert Coleman struck their vehicles while they were parked or stopped at traffic lights, causing them injuries ranging from back sprain to muscle trauma. In all of the crashes, Coleman was driving an ambulance, the suits said.
Coleman, who was certified to operate emergency vehicles, denied wrongdoing in all of the cases, records show, before he and the companies he worked for settled the lawsuits.
In the most recent crash, police said, Coleman was taking his two-month-old granddaughter, Marian Harris, to the hospital after she became unresponsive inside their Frankford house early on March 15. He sped through a red light at the intersection of Torresdale and Harbison Avenues and collided with sedan, police said. The baby and her mother, who were in the front passenger seat, were thrown through the windshield, according to police.
The infant was pronounced dead soon after, and her 32-year-old mother was critically injured, but has since been released from the hospital.
Coleman, who police said had been drinking before the crash, had not activated the vehicle’s emergency lights or siren, they said. He has not been charged in connection with the incident, which remains under investigation by the district attorney’s office.
Coleman, 51, did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Efforts to reach family members were unsuccessful.
The lawsuits filed in connection with earlier crashes accuse Coleman of careless driving or negligence while operating an ambulance and also name the companies for which he worked: Advanced Life Support Ambulance, Ambulance Express, and Art of Life.
One of the suits settled for $80,000 in 2013, court records show. In another, settled in 2021, the person who sued Coleman had asked for less than $50,000. Court records do not disclose the amount paid to bring that case or the other matters to a close. All of the cases settled with no admission of wrongdoing.
In 2010, a Langhorne man said Coleman, driving an Art of Life ambulance without its lights or sirens on, “carelessly and negligently” rear-ended his pickup truck — twice — while the truck was stopped at a red light on Verree Road. Louis Sigmund was thrown forward, “violently” striking his head, causing “post-concussion syndrome” and injuries that included lumbar and spine sprains, and knee pain, the suit said.
In a 2011 deposition, Coleman acknowledged hitting the truck but denied that the vehicle was stopped at a red light at the time.
As for driving without lights or sirens on, Coleman said he’d been trained to reserve those for an emergency. “Pretty much when we have our lights and sirens on is because we have a patient on board because we have an emergency,” he said. “Patient is pretty much dying, and we have to get to the hospital faster.”
An attorney for the ambulance company said in a recent interview that he could not recall the lawsuit, or a second suit against Coleman and the company that was filed the same year.
Signmund’s attorney, John Dooley, said “I’ve been a lawyer for over 30 years and I don’t remember having another case where someone rear-ends someone, then hits them again.”
Sigmund, he said, died in 2024.
In the second lawsuit filed in 2010, a Philadelphia woman contended that Coleman, driving an Art of Life ambulance, struck the rear of her sedan while she was stopped at the intersection of Cheltenham Avenue and Washington Lane. Carmella Armstrong said she suffered sprains and strains to her right trapezia and mid back, head pain, and muscle injury.
Coleman denied wrongdoing in the case, which settled later that year for an undisclosed sum.
In a lawsuit filed in 2015, a Philadelphia woman said she was driving south on Route 1 when Coleman, driving an Advanced Life Support Ambulance, hit her from behind. Nadirah Coleman said she suffered injuries that included whiplash, hyperextension, right shoulder sprain, and nervous shock.
Efforts to reach Nadirah Coleman, and her attorney were unsuccessful, as were attempts to reach attorneys for the ambulance company.
In court papers, Coleman and the ambulance company denied the allegations in the suit, which settled in 2016 for an undisclosed sum.
In 2018, a Philadelphia man filed a lawsuit contending that Coleman, driving an emergency vehicle for Ambulance Express, rear-ended his pickup truck as he sat inside the vehicle, which was parked along 55th Street near Christian Street. Barry Henry said he sustained injuries to his back, shoulder, knee, and head.
Reached by phone, Henry declined to comment.
In court documents, Coleman and Ambulance Express denied the allegations of Henry’s suit, which settled for an undisclosed sum in 2021.
In this month’s fatal crash, authorities continue to investigate. Coleman has not been charged in the wreck. The baby’s cause of death has not been determined, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Staff writers Ellie Rushing and Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.