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An ambulance was stolen on Monday night in San Francisco's Sunset District, and the thief was pursued by CHP into San Mateo and Alameda counties, according to officials. Ultimately, the ambulance was found abandoned in Oakland.
Around 6:14 p.m., the San Francisco Fire Department reported that they were responding to a medical emergency near 47th Avenue and Irving Street. They claimed that when the ambulance was stolen, paramedics were about to transfer a patient into the ambulance.
Fire authorities reported that various law enforcement agencies used GPS to find the stolen ambulance.
A Taraval unit allegedly attempted to stop the ambulance on 19th Avenue before it fled onto Interstate 280, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
The stolen car was pursued by the California Highway Patrol all the way down the Peninsula and into the East Bay.
Captain Jonathan Baxter of the San Francisco Fire Department claimed the ambulance's thief drove recklessly on city streets, disregarding other cars and people walking. The driver was allegedly running red lights on Oakland's city streets, according to CHP. Both authorities claimed that the pursuit was ended for reasons of safety.
Before the pursuit led them to the East Bay, the CHP claimed they had found the ambulance in the Daly City region. According to CHP representatives, the pursuit included CHP from Oakland, Castro Valley, and Hayward.
The ambulance was discovered abandoned in Oakland, according to the CHP, by one of their units that was leaving the area. From the scene, video was captured by a KTVU camera crew. The ambulance's wheels seem to be broken. According to CHP, the recovered ambulance was returning to the SF Fire Dept.
No suspect was in custody, according to SFPD.