Ambulance Theft Ends in Schenectady Crash

Conesville Town Supervisor and County Board Chair Bill Federice said that he received a call around 10 pm Sunday night. The County Ambulance was responding to a call in Cobleskill. Both EMTs were getting ready to get the patient to Cobleskill Regional Hospital. At the time a man ran up to the ambulance shouting that his father was on the ground and needed help. One EMT left the scene to see what happened, when the man who originally screamed ran to the ambulance, jumped into it, and drove off with the patient inside. On the way out, he sideswiped one of the EMTs.

The EMTs called for assistance. The suspect stopped at Speedway, told the patient to get out, and continued on. The ambulance came onto I-88 followed by multiple law enforcement agencies, driving to I-890. When the highway became Erie Boulevard, the driver continued at approximately 80 miles per hour, hit several cars and eventually t-boned a vehicle at a high rate of speed. The suspect was in serious condition as of the time of this writing.

The crash occurred approximately midnight to 12:30.

Federice said that he was “really proud of how our EMTs handled the situation, how the Sheriff’s Department handled it, and the cooperation of different agencies, including the State Police and Schenectady County Sheriff’s Department.”

“They did a really nice job,” he said.

The investigation is ongoing.