Nine times out of ten when we see a news story about a stolen ambulance that’s been crashed, it’s in Florida for whatever reason. Maybe it’s all the gators on meth there or something else in the water, it seems to be a big problem there. This one, not surprisingly, happened in an equally crazy place: California.
Florida man steals ambulance and drives straight to sheriff’s office.
More specifically, this ambulance was swiped by a suspect in San Gabriel, which for those of you who don’t know is in Los Angeles County, otherwise known as one of the craziest places in America. So it’s not all that surprising that such a story would emerge from such a place.
People seem shocked someone would steal an ambulance, but it does happen. Per ABC7, the man who stole the ambulance is a “transient with a lengthy criminal history.” He led police on a chase, ultimately wrecking into several other cars before being taken into custody.
Thankfully, nobody was inside the ambulance when it was stolen. Could you imagine being strapped to a stretcher, hooked up to an IV, etc. in the back of an ambulance when someone steals it, taking you on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride in real life?
We’ve noticed anecdotally a steady increase in ambulance thefts in the past while. We hope the trend falls off but the reality is people are stealing all kinds of vehicles these days, even golf carts.
Part of the problem seems to be that medics will leave ambulances idling as they care for patients or retrieve someone from a building. The aftermarket should come up with a device that allows the vehicle to idle but prevents it from being driven by anyone other than the authorized driver. The same should be true of police cars and other emergency vehicles.
Image via ABC7
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