Posted by Susan Oppat and Amanda Hamon | The Ann Arbor News January 26, 2008 14:22PM Categories: Traffic A 23-year-old emergency medical technician who stopped to help one driver whose car had spun off the road was hit and killed this morning by another vehicle that police say was traveling too fast for road conditions. Cheryl Kiefer, of Brooklyn, was unconscious during the 25-30 minutes officials estimate it took firefighters to free her from the wreckage on eastbound I-94 at Kalmbach Road after the 6:07 a.m. crash. She was declared dead at the University of Michigan Medical Center at about 8:50 a.m., Huron Valley Ambulance director Dale Berry said. Kiefer was a part-time emergency medical technician for Jackson Community Ambulance, which is operated by HVA in conjunction with Foote Health System in Jackson, Berry said. He said she was studying to become a full paramedic, and waiting for a full-time position to become available with the nonprofit ambulance company. Berry said Kiefer volunteered when she was contacted in a callback at about 1 a.m. Saturday. Berry said Kiefer and a partner took a patient from one hospital to another in Oakland County, and were westbound on I-94 at Kalmbach Road on their way back to their base in Jackson County when they saw a pickup truck spin out of control and roll into a ditch on eastbound I-94 near the Washtenaw County line. He said the pair called the crash in to police, then swung over to the eastbound side of the road to help. Chelsea Fire Chief James Payeur said Kiefer was in a ditch on the south shoulder of the road, helping the woman in the truck, when an SUV spun out and rolled over onto Kieffer. Kiefer was trapped between the roof of the SUV and the side of the pickup truck in a muddy area at the Kalmbach Road ramp. Michigan State Police Trooper Nicole Hiserote said the pickup truck driver, a 46-year-old Jackson man didn't see the crash around the curve until just before he came upon it. She said he told her he tried to slow down, but the vehicle fishtailed and ran off the road. Hiserote said emergency workers started arriving from throughout the area within about five minutes, but Payeur said the mud made it hard to free Kiefer. He said firefighters ended up using a winch on the front of their rescue vehicle to pull the SUV off Kieffer, about 20-25 minutes after firefighters arrived. He said HVA paramedics arrived and worked on Keiffer because University of Michigan Survival Flight helicopters were grounded by the snow. The paramedics met flight nurses at Zeeb Road. "They all worked very hard to save her life," Berry said, but she was declared dead at U-M at 8:50 a.m. The drivers in the pickup and SUV refused treatment for minor injuries at the scene, Hiserote said. Hiserote said the SUV driver tested negative for alcohol at the scene, and there was no indication of drug use. But she said the at-fault driver admitted he was traveling at 60-65 mph before the crash. She said her report on the crash will be turned over to the Washtenaw County prosecutor for possible criminal charges. "This is the first employee that we've had that we've ever lost ... in the line of duty," HVA spokeswoman Williams said several hours after the crash.