Video: Seattle police chase man who stole ambulance for a joy ride
May 17, 2016, 5:50 PM
A Seattle ambulance was speeding through the streets of the city, and cops were following in its wake. But it wasn’t headed toward an emergency, rather, the aid car was the emergency.
“He just rammed one of our patrol cars,” an officer is heard saying on the dash cam video.
Seattle police pursued a 23-year-old man who stole a Seattle Fire Department aid car and sped through the city Saturday evening. Officers initially responded after receiving reports of a man who jumped out of a downtown hotel room window and dropped 10 feet to the ground. He soon found an ambulance parked nearby, hopped in and drove off.
Being a city aid car, however, officials could easily track the vehicle and it moved toward North Seattle. Police tried to block the aid car’s path around Sand Point Way but the suspect turned it around, bashing into one patrol car, and sped off again.
“You need to pull over sir. We cannot keep doing this. Somebody’s going to get hurt,” the Seattle police officer says over his loudspeaker.
“We’re not going to let you go … You need to stop and talk to us, OK. This is not going to work,” he said. “Please pull over.”
Finally, the suspect ended the chase around 50th Avenue and 65th Street — he pulled over and turned himself in.
“Put your hands out the window. It’s OK, just put your hands out the window,” the officer instructs the man. “There ya go, step on out.”
Another aid car was called in to treat the man’s injuries that were caused by dropping from the hotel window — he fell out of the ambulance as he exited and was clearly favoring one leg. Police report that the man appeared to be dazed when he was taken into custody. He has been booked into King County Jail with an auto theft charge.
Follow @https://twitter.com/DyerOxley
