By EMS1 Staff
WILDOMAR, Calif. — A patient broke free of his restraints while being transported in an ambulance and hijacked the rig, leading police on a lengthy chase.
PE.com reported that the patient had been picked up from Inland Valley Medical Center by a pair of Mission Ambulance paramedics and was restrained.
Mission Ambulance dispatcher Amanda Coria said the patient broke free of his restraints after about 20 minutes and confronted the female paramedics, who both got out after a possible scuffle.
The man commandeered the ambulance and drove away.
Coria said police chased the ambulance for about an hour and a half, and attempted to stop him with a spike strip, but he drove around them.
The patient eventually stopped the ambulance on the highway and began fleeing on foot into the desert, clad only in a pair of pants.
An officer chased the patient on foot and a helicopter circled above him before he laid down and surrendered.
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