(Updated at 4:35 p.m. with information from Chapel Hill Fire Department)
While being treated by emergency personnel around 9 a.m., a man fled his house, stole an ambulance and drove it around a neighborhood, crashing into cars.
Orange County Emergency Medical Services were responding to a medical call at his house on Deerwood Court. He drove the Orange County ambulance around the neighborhood, striking at least five cars before crashing the ambulance at the dead end of Emory Drive, said Capt. Jeff Clark of the Chapel Hill Police Department.
After he crashed the ambulance, he was detained by the police, according to a Chapel Hill police press release.
“At the scene he was treated for minor lacerations on the face,” Clark said.
One of the vehicles struck was a Chapel Hill Fire truck, to which damage was extensive, Fire Chief Dan Jones said.
The fire truck, worth about $400,000, had damage to three rear compartments, the rear step and all the rear lights, Jones said. “It’s going to be pretty expensive,” he said.
Orange County Emergency Services Director Frank Montes de Oca said the ambulance was also significantly damaged.
“We’ve taken it down to our motor pool,” he said. “It’s one of the older units in our fleet. It probably will not be repaired.”
