Stolen Ambulance Crashes Into Chiropractor’s Office on Church Street Just North of Decatur
Decatur Metro | June 1, 2013 | 6:10 pmFrom the AJC…
Two DeKalb County fire paramedics escaped serious injury Saturday when they were taken on a wild, high speed ride in the back of a stolen ambulance that eventually crashed into a chiropractor’s office near Decatur.
The paramedics had just dropped a patient off at Emory University Hospital on Clifton Road shortly before 2 p.m. and were in the back of the ambulance completing their paperwork when “a patient came out of the hospital, dressed in a gown and rubber gloves, jumped in the front seat, locked the doors and took off in the unit,” DeKalb fire Battalion Chief Christopher Morrison Jr. told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
And man, the picture of the ambulance crash is worth a 1,000 words. Glad no one was hurt!
what???
An ambulance crashes into a chiropractor’s office….gotta be a punchline there somewhere.
I kinda feel bad. I doubt it would’ve crashed if I wasn’t chasing it.
+!
Don’t crash the ambulance, whatever you do.
Mark Knopfler. Nice.
Spell check on the headline – fail !
I was at Glenlake Park when this happened. All I heard were the (many) sirens responding. But you could tell that something major had happened.
I was home when it happened and heard the crashes. My townhouse’s driveway is directly across from the chiropractor’s office. I ran around the house trying to figure out what had happened since it sounded like three mirrors had fallen in close succession. Saturday plans changed rather suddenly since our driveway was blocked off for about six hours.
The two paramedics came out of it okay, although one has a broken collarbone. In the end, lots of property damage but nobody seriously hurt.
Wow, that is one tough ambulance. Severed a telephone pole, flattened a huge sign, blasted through M.Cary’s front porch, then sheared off the front half of the chiropractor’s.
It was probably priest-driven.
Thank you, Wayne Coyne.
“Cannonball Run VII” — In theaters next summer!
They actually filmed much of the original in (unincorporated) Decatur back in the early 80s. I remember seeing Farrah Fawcett at Midway Park, where they filmed a scene inside an… ambulance.
The pictures and video over on Patch are impressive. The part that impresses me is that the crashed building was still standing while the ambulance was lodged inside. It must have just fallen apart once the ambulance was backed out and no longer supporting it. Makes me wonder, if the ambulance had stayed, could the building have been shored up around it and then repaired? Of course, the ambulance was probably needed and couldn’t stay there as a prop. Speaking of the ambulance, how did it fare? The pictures seem to suggest that it was studier than the structures it hit.
Laugh it up fuzzball. You guys can crack jokes if you want but this could easily have been much more serious than it already was. Imagine if he’d run up on the sidewalk at any point and hit some pedestrians. Or crossed the lane and hit some oncoming cars. This is so close to Glenlake pool which I’m sure had plenty of visitors on a Saturday afternoon. I’m so glad he ran into a business and not a house (though I’m sorry for Sandy Chiropractic!). I am amazed more people were not hurt.
Oh, and AHID–the AJC reported that the ambulance was a total loss.
I saw the DeKalb firefighters strapping off the front of the house after the ambulance was pulled out. Initially they shored it up with some 2×4’s and straps. Later that evening the part that overhung the front porch was simply cut off and now sits on the front yard.
The wrecker dragged the ambulance out of the building, up the hill, and onto Church Street. The front end was mangled, but from the front wheel wells back it looked better than I was expecting. It was sturdy enough the guy who stole it was able to hop out and make a run for it and the two paramedics suffered one broken collar bone between them.
I’m also amazed people weren’t hurt considering this guy stole the ambulance at Emory Hospital and ran red lights all the way down Clifton and North Decatur before turning down Church Street. A firefighter at the scene said the guy blew through the Scott/North Decatur/Medlock intersection. Maybe had the siren going.and that got him through.
I was wondering that … did the driver know how to turn on the siren? If you are going to steal an ambulance, at least have that minor thrill along the way …