Who’s to blame? Ambulance-Lyft crash in downtown Columbia sparks dueling lawsuits
A collision between a Richland County ambulance and a Lyft ride-share vehicle in downtown Columbia two summers ago has now spurred multiple lawsuits, and none of the parties involved can agree on who is to blame for the crash.
The Lyft driver Celena Bradford and her passenger Robin Roache have both filed lawsuits over the matter, which they say caused them significant injuries. Bradford is suing the county and Roache is suing both the county and Bradford.
Roache was riding as a passenger in a Lyft when her driver, Bradford, drove through a green light at the same time ambulance driver Brenda Addison was driving through a red light at the intersection of Elmwood Avenue and Main Street in early July 2024.
The court filings don’t spell out how the crash occurred, but both Roache and Bradford say the ambulance hit Bradford’s vehicle as both vehicles entered the intersection around the same time.
Bradford says the ambulance failed to stop at the red light “and suddenly struck [her] vehicle with great force and violence,” blaming the ambulance driver for the crash.
The county in legal filings says Addison, the ambulance driver, cleared the intersection properly and that it was Bradford driving the Lyft who was negligent and responsible for the crash.
The county in its filing conceded, “only that the vehicles were traveling in the direction alleged, that Addison entered the intersection on a red light, and that an accident occurred.”
Roache, the Lyft passenger, says the ambulance only attempted to clear the intersection and blames both the ambulance driver and Bradford for the incident, saying they both failed to drive at a safe speed, keep a proper lookout, and slow down or stop for traffic, among other negligence claims.
It’s also not clear if the ambulance had its lights and sirens on.
Roache and Bradford are both asking for jury trials and money damages, while Bradford has also asked that Roache’s claims against her be dismissed.
Richland County, in response to Roache’s suit, is contesting the claims and is also asking for a jury to decide the dispute. The County has not yet responded to Bradford’s July 2 lawsuit because it had not been served the lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon, a county spokesperson confirmed.
What happened?
The parties all concede that Bradford had a green light and drove through the intersection at the same time Addison drove through a red light at the same intersection, but that’s where the agreements end.
The court filings don’t say whether Addision activated the ambulance’s lights and sirens, but Richland County in its response to Roache’s lawsuit said Addison was acting “appropriately and reasonably” within her duties as an emergency medical technician.
Bradford in her suit acknowledges that emergency vehicles are “afforded certain statutory privileges,” when responding to emergencies, but that Addision still had a duty to “exercise due regard for the safety of all persons using the roadway.”
Roache and Bradford, in their separate lawsuits, both said they suffered injuries from the collision.
A news report from local TV station WIS from that day reported two people were taken to the hospital after an afternoon collision with an ambulance at Main Street and Elmwood Avenue. That article reported that the ambulance was not carrying a patient at the time, but doesn’t specify who was taken to the hospital after the incident.
Richland County, through a spokesperson, declined to comment for the article beyond saying the county had not been served Bradford’s lawsuit as of Tuesday afternoon.
Roache’s attorney declined to comment on the article as well. An attorney for Bradford did not respond before publication.
Roache filed her initial complaint in March 2025, and has since amended it. Her initial complaint named the county and Addison, the ambulance driver. Bradford wasn’t added as a defendant until several months after Roache filed the initial complaint.
Later, Roache agreed to drop the claims against Addision, and then added Bradford and Lyft to the suit. Lyft has also since been dismissed from the claims, according to court filings.
Roache’s suit is scheduled for a jury trial this September. Bradford’s lawsuit is much newer, filed July 2 of this year, and no schedule has been set for that suit to be heard.
