Three members of a Richmond Ambulance Authority crew were among seven people injured in back-to-back crashes at a city intersection yesterday.

None of the three ambulance crew members suffered life-threatening injuries, said Chip Decker, the ambulance authority's chief operating officer. Two crew members were released within hours of the accident, and another was likely to be hospitalized overnight for further examination, he said.

The ambulance crew members had responded to a wreck involving two trucks at Leigh and Belvidere streets at 9:30 a.m. and had just loaded a patient into their rig when it was struck by a car.

The three ambulance crew members, their patient and three people in the car that struck their rig were all sent by ambulance to hospitals.

Authorities said it appeared that the original ambulance patient, a truck driver, was the only person with serious injuries. His name and the nature of his injuries were not released.

The first crash involved a tractor-trailer and white bucket truck, police said. The other vehicle involved in the second crash, about 20 minutes later, appeared to be a cream-colored Buick Park Avenue.

Police said the car's driver, Karleen Haskins, 64, was charged with reckless driving. Police did not release an address for Haskins.

Decker said the three ambulance crew members and their patient were all in the back of the rig when it was struck while parked in the far right southbound lane of Belvidere Street.

Even though the three crew members were not seriously injured, the collision underscored the dangers that emergency responders can face.

"I don't recall anything like this happening recently to us," Decker said. "But it is dangerous to have a car sitting there. People start looking around to the wreck, and sometimes they don't pay attention to the first responders."

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com.