Ambulance stolen in San Francisco chased by CHP through San Mateo, Alameda counties
Ambulance stolen in San Francisco chased by CHP through San Mateo, Alameda counties
San Francisco Fire Department said an ambulance was stolen from the city's Sunset District while responding to a medical emergency Monday night. Officials said California Highway Patrol pursued the vehicle in San Mateo and Alameda counties. The pursuit was discontinued and the ambulance was later found in Oakland.
SAN FRANCISCO - An ambulance was stolen in San Francisco's Sunset District Monday evening, before being chased by law enforcement through San Mateo and Alameda counties, officials say. Ultimately the ambulance was found abandoned in Oakland.
San Francisco Fire Department said they were responding to a medical emergency at 47th Avenue and Irving Street at around 6:14 p.m. They said paramedics were in the process of loading a patient into the ambulance when the vehicle was stolen.
Fire officials said the stolen ambulance was located by several law enforcement agencies through GPS.
San Francisco Police Department said a Taraval unit tried to stop the ambulance on 19th Avenue before it took to Interstate 280. "Several CHP units took over on the freeway," SFPD Capt. Raj Vaswani said on social media.
California Highway Patrol pursued the stolen vehicle down the Peninsula before crossing over to the East Bay.
SF Fire Dept. Captain Jonathan Baxter said the driver who stole the ambulance showed disregard for other vehicles and pedestrians on city streets. CHP said the driver was running red lights on the city streets of Oakland. Both agencies said the pursuit was discontinued out of safety's sake.
CHP said they had located the ambulance in the Daly City area before the pursuit took them to the East Bay. CHP Oakland, Castro Valley and Hayward were all involved in the pursuit, CHP officials said.
CHP said one of their units leaving the area spotted the ambulance parked and abandoned in Oakland. A KTVU camera crew got footage from the scene. The wheels of the ambulance appear to be damaged. CHP said the recovered ambulance was on its way back to the SF Fire Dept.
The patient from the initial medical emergency was not harmed from this incident, fire officials said. They were transported to a local hospital for their original emergency. SF Fire said their crew was also unharmed.
Officials did not provide suspect information. SFPD said there was no suspect in custody.
SF Fire Dept. said they will have more information on how the ambulance was taken as the investigation of this incident continues. SFPD said their burglary unit is handling the investigation.