Source The Charlotte Observer
A hospital patient still had an IV in his arm and was wearing his medical gown when he stole an ambulance from a Virginia hospital, police said.
Now, law enforcement is searching for the 32-year-old man.
The man was receiving treatment at Fairfax Hospital on Feb. 19 after he was in a car crash on Interstate 66 earlier that day, the Fairfax County Police Department said in a news release.
He was a passenger in a car that police say was stolen. The driver fled officers but lost control of the vehicle, according to police. The car hit a hill and went airborne, then it landed against a concrete wall. All five occupants had non-life-threatening injuries.
Before the man was discharged, he walked away from emergency room medical providers, stole the ambulance from the hospital and drove away, police said.
A photo shared by police shows the man driving 34 miles per hour in the vehicle.
Authorities later found the abandoned ambulance but continued searching for the man, who they said is from nearby Prince William County in Virginia.
At around 11:30 p.m. Feb. 19, officers believed they had spotted the man, “leading to an extensive search with our helicopter,” police said in a release.
As of the afternoon of Feb. 20, he hadn’t been taken into custody, Fairfax poilce told McClatchy News.
The major crimes unit and fugitive track and apprehension detectives are searching for the man, who is wanted on a charge of grand larceny.
Fairfax County borders Washington, D.C. to the west.
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