5/17/21 Reading, PA – Fire Department Ambulance Was On Medical Call – They Came Out With The Patient And The Ambulance Was Stolen – Police Chase – Crash Into Back Of Tractor Trailer – Suspect Captured

May 17, 2021

www.jems.com

A Reading Fire Department ambulance that was stolen Monday while the crew was inside a hi-rise tending to a patient was found in Lancaster County where it was involved in a crash, city Fire Chief William I. Stoudt Jr. said Monday.

A suspect is in custody, said Stoudt, who didn’t have more details.

Stoudt said the ambulance crew had responded to Kennedy Senior Center, better known as Kennedy Towers, 300 S. Fourth St., shortly before 11:30 a.m. Medics were tending to the patient in the hi-rise for several minutes before bringing the patient out.

“They came out with the patient to find that their ambulance wasn’t there,” the chief said.

They called for another ambulance that took the patient to a hospital for non-life-threatening problems, he said.

Reading police quickly put out a bulletin for area law enforcement to be on the lookout for Reading Fire Department Ambulance No. 4. They also took to social media, urging the public to call 9-1-1 if they saw the unit.

Not long after that, the ambulance was involved in a crash.