CHARLOTTE, North Carolina — A crazy scene in east Charlotte Monday morning after a man stole an ambulance and rammed vehicles in a parking lot, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police said.
It happened when Medic responded to a call around 11:30 a.m. in the 5700 block of Executive Center Drive.
"They (the crew) unlocked their ambulance to take care of the patient and that’s when the subject came in the front seat," said Michael Stanford, Medic operations manager. “The crews told the subject to get out of the vehicle while they were exiting the vehicle.”
A bystander caught the incident on camera.
In the video, you can see the ambulance lunge forward and push two cars into other vehicles in the lot. As the scene unfolds, you can hear a woman giving a play-by-play on the events as they occur.
After hitting the vehicles, the suspect jumps out of the ambulance and runs away. But soon, police cruisers start to circle him and he surrenders.
Marcia Crenshaw-Hill's car was damaged in the incident.
"I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, ain’t nobody got time to be getting another car, money doesn’t just fall off trees," said Crenshaw-Hill.
The vehicle had been locked before the crew re-entered it with the patient. Stanford said the ambulance is always left running on calls.
“For the climate control and the safety of our patients, so nothing else really in policy we can really do with this," he said.
Despite the damage to her vehicle, Crenshaw-Hill had a kind wish for the suspect.
“That he gets the help that he needs, because he needs a lot of help, mentally," she said.
CMPD said the man was taken into custody. There was no immediate word on his name or charges.
On Monday afternoon, Medic released a statement on the incident:
At 11:23 a.m. today, Mecklenburg EMS Agency (Medic) responded to a medical call at the 5600 block of Executive Center Drive. The crew followed Agency protocol by locking the ambulance while on scene assessing the patient. The crew returned to the vehicle with the patient and unlocked the vehicle to enter the patient care module. Within seconds of entering the module, crew members heard an unknown individual enter the driver’s seat of the vehicle. The crew repeatedly shouted at the individual to no avail. They then decided to exit the ambulance immediately with the patient and did so safely. The intruder proceeded to drive the ambulance a short distance while damaging multiple vehicles. Thankfully, no one was injured during the incident and CMPD successfully took the subject into custody on the scene. The patient Medic was treating was transported to an area hospital without further incident. Please contact CMPD Public Affairs for further information.
