Photo: Port St. Lucie Police Department
A South Florida woman was arrested after authorities claimed she stole an ambulance from a hospital and took it on a joyride. The Port St. Lucie Police Department said 25-year-old Marquisa Allen, of Miami, is facing several charges in the crime, which happened on August 30.
Ambulance personnel arrived that afternoon at HCA St. Lucie Hospital to drop off a patient. While they were inside the hospital, Allen, who was wearing a hospital gown and sitting alone on a bench outside, entered the unoccupied vehicle and drove it out of the parking lot, according to officials.
Authorities used the ambulance's GPS tracker to send the stolen vehicle's location to nearby law enforcement partners. Florida Highway Patrol troopers reportedly found the ambulance stuck in traffic on the Turnpike and closed in on Allen.
Police said the 25-year-old woman abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot from the scene, but troopers apprehended her following a short pursuit. No word on the possible motive behind the crime.
Allen was booked into the Martin County Jail for giving false information to police, driving while her license was suspended, and resisting without violence. Additional charges from the police department are pending, as well.
"Great job to our PSLPD Officers, Florida Highway Patrol, and Martin County Sheriff's Office for the joint effort in quickly apprehending this suspect!" cops wrote.