Man drives stolen ambulance to Publix, police say

A man stole an ambulance in Kendall Friday night and stopped in a Doral Publix parking lot eight miles away before being arrested by police, authorities said. Hours later, he was charged again for assaulting a prisoner at the jail.

Miami-Dade police issued an alert Friday evening for an ambulance stolen from Kendall Regional Medical Center, acording to the arrest affidavit. Officers then tracked the vehicle’s GPS north and watched it enter a Publix parking lot at 10755 NW 58th St. in Doral.

Two Doral police officers arrived at the scene around 8 p.m. and found Alberto LaGuardia, 45, in the driver’s seat, with the engine still running.

They arrested LaGuardia and read him his Miranda rights, after which he said he stole the vehicle because he was beaten up at the hospital.

“I wanted to get away, so I took it,” he told the officers.

LaGuardia was charged with two counts of grand theft, including one count of stealing emergency medical equipment.

After he was transported to Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center early Saturday morning, he punched another prisoner in the face while waiting in the lobby, according to another affidavit.

LaGuardia was charged with another count of battery.