An ambulance was stolen Sunday in Austin, Texas, for the second time in a month, prompting paramedics to consider implementing new policies and procedures in hopes of avoiding any further emergency vehicle-related thefts.
The latest ambulance heist occurred at around 4 p.m. Christmas Day as paramedics were responding to an emergency call near the Austin Resource Center for the Homeless, or ARCH.
Two paramedics were caring for a patient inside the rear of the ambulance when an unknown person entered the vehicle’s cab and began driving, according to Austin-Travis County EMS Capt. Rick Rutledge.
“They drove for about two miles. They did occasionally use sirens, warning devices, and they went at high speeds,” Capt. Rutledge told KEYE-TV, a local CBS affiliate.
The cab is completely isolated from the back of the vehicle, he added, meaning the thief may never have realized he was towing two paramedics and a patient before he abandoned the ambulance after a couple of miles and fled on foot.
“I think he, for whatever reason realized this is not a good idea and isn’t going to work in the long run, so he bailed,” he told a Fox affiliate.
The ambulance’s engine was running at the time of the incident because the paramedics required electricity for various lights and other environmental controls, the captain explained.
On the heels of a similar incident weeks earlier, however, Capt. Rutledge said new procedures may soon be put in place to prevent any further ambulance thefts.
“I can tell you since 1999 when I started here, this has not happened,” he told the CBS station. “We can say there have been two events in a month or two events in 17 years. It is still a very rare event and we’re glad that it doesn’t happen more and we’ll see what we can do to keep it that way.”
When asked by reporters if current protocols permits EMS technicians to secure the cab while treating a patient, Capt. Rutledge said: “You can’t jump in the back and lock the front.”
“Could that change? Possibly. We’re going to look at things like that and see if there’s a better way to do it,” he told KXAN.
“Going forward we have to look at what our procedures are — what the possible safety features would be or things that we could consider. It’s always looking back, would this have made a difference and we just don’t know until things happen that you never thought would happen,” Capt. Rutledge told Austin’s KVUE-TV.
Paramedics don’t believe Sunday’s theft was related to a similar incident that happened weeks earlier, Capt. Rutledge added.
Police earlier this month arrested David Oliver III, 43, in connection with an ambulance that was taken from a local hospital on Dec. 3. He was charged with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and evading arrest or detention with a motor vehicle, the Austin Statesman reported.
“These are isolated incidents. They don’t happen routinely. They do happen.” Austin-Travis County EMS Commander Mike Benavides told KXAN at the time.
Law enforcement has not yet identified any suspects in Sunday’s theft.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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