Only on 13: Shirtless man carjacks ambulance on 4th of July in west Harris County, video shows
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- The manager of an ambulance service is asking you to be on the lookout for a missing ambulance that was carjacked Saturday night by a shirtless man.
In a video you'll only see on ABC13, you watch as a shirtless man is seen walking around the front of the ambulance, climbs into the driver's seat, and the ambulance driver realizes what is happening.
"Hey, get out of the car, hey, hey," the ambulance driver can be heard yelling.
Saturday night around 11 p.m. was the last time the driver said he saw the ambulance.
"It is very scary," Amadou Diallo, manager of the non-emergency ambulance service Progressive Ambulance Service LLC, said.
Diallo said two medics each drove an ambulance to a nearby gas station at about 11 p.m. to top off the tanks when they were confronted by that shirtless man.
"The nozzle was in the vehicle, so he grabbed the nozzle and wanted to spray the guy with gas. He couldn't do that, so he put it back and came back and started talking to them," Diallo said.
Diallo said the confrontation continued to escalate until the man decided to jump into the ambulance and drive it off.
"What you learn at the EMS school, the first thing is your safety; safety is number one, so I think he did the right thing, not to confront the guy, jump inside the vehicle, or go with him," Diallo said.
Diallo said they called police and used the ambulance's GPS to track it to the Tanglewild area before it was turned off.
Houston police said the case is still open and active, and Diallo is hoping someone in the area will spot it and alert police.
"My number one thing is the medication. We have medication inside the vehicle, a stretcher, and power surges, very expensive equipment in there," Diallo said.
No one was hurt, but Diallo said this does put patients at risk. Down an ambulance, he said they are forced to change up their day to make sure everyone gets to the appointments they need to be at.
