Candice Ruud
Newsday
SMITHTOWN, N.Y. — A female prisoner escaped from police custody at a Smithtown hospital Thursday night, stole a hospital ambulance and crashed it a short while later, Suffolk County police said.
The woman, who was not identified, escaped from St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown about 6 p.m., police said. She then stole the ambulance and crashed it shortly thereafter in the vicinity of Sunken Meadow State Parkway and Route 25 in Commack, police said.
Police said the escapee and someone in another vehicle were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after the crash. Officials did not say how the other person was injured or why the prisoner had been hospitalized in police custody.
This marks the second time this month a prisoner has escaped from Suffolk police custody. Last week, Alexander Thomas, 25, of East Fourth Street in Huntington, escaped from Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he had been brought when he complained of chest pain after his arrest on gun charges, police said.
Thomas was brought back to the hospital about an hour later after a ground and helicopter search. He faces additional charges of escape and assault after attempting to flee, police said.
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