Ambulance fatally hits bicyclist while responding to emergency

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WEB UPDATE: The man has been identified as John Schenck, 52, who was homeless. 

Surveillance video shows an ambulance racing down Warren Avenue in Detroit moments before it fatally hit a man on a bicycle.

The DMCare Express Ambulance was rushing to get another patient to the hospital at the time. Police say the bicyclist was wearing dark clothing and the driver didn't see him.

The accident, on a rainy night happened right outside the BP gas station at Warren and the Chrysler service drive on May 12th.  Police say the 52-year-old bicyclist was killed by the impact.

"We think he was a homeless guy, we don't know his family," said Jamil Kaid, a clerk at BP. "We used to talk to him on a daily basis. He was actually a nice guy."

Detroit police and DMCare Express are investigating who was at fault - the bicyclist or the ambulance driver.

The surveillance footage is too grainy to make out the bicyclist, and where he was the moment he was hit. FOX 2 was told the ambulance was on the way to a local hospital with a patient and family member in the back.

DMCare Express Director of Operations Terrye Nicholls said in a statement:

"The bicyclist was wearing dark clothing and riding a dark colored bicycle, and was not seen by the ambulance driver. Our ambulance crew members, who save lives, are devastated over the collision and eventual death of the pedestrian. DMCare Express is cooperating fully with the police investigation and conducting its own internal investigation."

FOX 2 has not been told the status of the ambulance driver, or the identity of the victim.

"He was a nice guy," Kaid said. "So sad to hear what happened."