VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — One person is in custody after allegedly stealing an ambulance and leading police on a chase in Virginia Beach on Tuesday evening.
Virginia Beach police say the ambulance was reportedly stolen from Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.
Few details are available at this time, but police said the suspect was taken into custody a short time later near Atlantic Avenue and Laskin Road.
A video sent to 13News Now shows the ambulance speeding by with police officers in pursuit.
Witnesses say the ambulance later crashed at the corner of Atlantic and Laskin.
Tyler Harden saw the chase unfolding on Pacific Avenue and captured video of the stolen ambulance with police chasing behind it.
Harden said he and his friends heard the sirens and rushed to see what was going on.
“We just heard a ton of sirens so my friend Austin - he was actually in the video - ran over to the edge of the parking garage and he looked over the side,” Harden said. “He was like, ‘You guys need to come see this.’ So we run and take a peek over and pretty much right when we looked over is right when we saw the ambulance fly by and its tires were blown out from underneath and behind it was probably 30 cop cars.”
Harden said he just moved to the area two weeks ago from Utah and has never seen anything like this happen before.
“What would be the motive behind someone stealing an ambulance?” He questioned. “It’s just bizarre and crazy.”
On Thursday, police identified the suspect as Christopher Allman, 33, who was charged with grand larceny, felony eluding, felony destruction of property, impersonation of EMS personnel, tampering with an EMS vehicle and maliciously activating a fire alarm.
The incident remains under investigation. If you have any information that may help police, you're asked to call Virginia Beach Crime Solvers at 1-888-562-5887. People can also submit a tip online using P3 Tips.
