Funeral for Piscataway woman killed in ambulance crash

Family and friends are mourning a Spotswood emergency medical technician who was killed when a car collided with an ambulance responding to a call.

Hinal Patel's funeral took place in North Brunswick on Monday.

Patel, 22, of Piscataway, a recent Rutgers University graduate, was killed in a three-vehicle crash while aboard an ambulance rushing to the scene of an accident in East Brunswick on Saturday morning.

The Spotswood Emergency Medical Services ambulance, with its lights and sirens activated, was struck by an East Brunswick woman, resulting in a three-vehicle wreck at 8 a.m. at Ryders Lane and Cranbury Road, East Brunswick police said.

Patel was a Piscataway High School graduate who earned a bachelor's degree in cell biology and neuroscience from Rutgers in May. She was planning to attend a master's program at the Rutgers Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences in the fall, and hoped to become a doctor or physician's assistant.

She joined the North Stelton Volunteer Fire Company in April 2012 and completed EMT training in September of that year, serving as a volunteer EMT in the Emergency Medical Services division, the statement said. She was a volunteer at Saint Peter's University Hospital in New Brunswick for five years before becoming an EMT.

Staff Writer Everett Merrill: 908-243-6606; emerrill@mycentraljersey.com