PATIENT STEALS AMBULANCE - Held by cops after going for joyride

Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator

WESTERN BUREAU: The Lucea police were kept busy at mid-afternoon on Sunday, after a male patient at the Noel Holmes Hospital jumped into one of the health facility’s ambulances and drove the vehicle away.

A source at the hospital told THE STAR that the drama unfolded when an alarm was raised by a nurse, shortly after 2:30 p.m., after she spotted the patient driving off in the ambulance. The man had somehow gained access to the key to the vehicle, following which he drove off in the direction of Lucea (town centre), with employees of the hospital in hot pursuit.

Reports from the Lucea Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) are that while on his driving spree, the patient crashed into the rear of a Toyata Picnic motor car, which was parked in the vicinity of the West Palm Hotel on Fort Charlotte Drive, resulting in extensive damage.

extensive damage

The police further said that the patient reversed the ambulance and then continued on his way on Church Street towards the Lucea town centre. However, due to the collision with the vehicle, there was extensive damage to the left front fender of the ambulance, so it couldn’t be steered properly.

The patient was intercepted at the intersection of Lorenton Avenue and Church Street by police officers, who were on their way to play a football match at a nearby venue. The officers had heard the radio transmission about the incident and were on the lookout for the vehicle.

The hospital source said when the patient was questioned as to why he drove away the vehicle, he replied: “So a wha if me drive di ambulance?”

The patient was taken back to the hospital and is expected to be charged this week.

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PATIENT STEALS AMBULANCE - Held by cops after going for joyride