Posts Tagged Arlington Heights ambulance stolen

Ambulance stolen from local hospital (more)

The Daily Herald has a follow-up article on the theft of an Arlington Heihgts ambulance from Northwest Community Hospital last week.

Under the cover of darkness, police say, Samantha Sligar slipped out of Northwest Community Hospital and into the driver’s seat of an idling and unlocked ambulance. Two Arlington Heights paramedics had wheeled a patient on a gurney into the emergency room and were restocking their supplies about 4 a.m. Friday as Sligar was making away with ambulance No. 4.

Two hours later and some 150 miles away, the ambulance was disabled alongside Interstate 57, and Rantoul, Illinois, police were handcuffing Sligar and taking her into custody. She told them she was going to her job at a St. Louis department store, according to police, but also that she considered going to Marion, Illinois. She said her car and her wallet had been stolen.

By all accounts what happened in between was one wild ride.

According to authorities, the Arlington Heights paramedics realized in less than 20 minutes their ambulance had been stolen. An alert went out, and Rolling Meadows police were the first to spot it, trailing the ambulance to Roselle Road where it then got onto eastbound I-90. Squad cars from multiple departments followed the ambulance on I-90.

At 4:40 a.m., an emergency alert went out. Police in south suburban Matteson located the ambulance heading south on I-57, but Sligar disregarded their command to pull over, according to a state police spokeswoman. Further down the line, both Manteno police and Kankakee County officers each tried unsuccessfully to stop the ambulance, which by various accounts was recklessly speeding down Interstate 57, police said, running vehicles off the road with lights flashing and sirens blaring. Authorities treated her carefully, not wanting to precipitate an accident. At one point, Sligar eluded Illinois State Police at 80 miles an hour with the ambulance’s lights flashing, authorities said.

But as the ambulance approached the Ford/Champaign county line, authorities had to act. Troopers who were supposed to pick up the chase there were instead at a serious accident at milepost 211 involving several semitrailer trucks. Traffic was at a standstill behind it.

Rantoul police spread stop sticks, or spike sticks, across the southbound interstate. The sticks puncture tires and let the air out of them slowly, to limit the likelihood of rollovers. The spikes shredded the ambulance’s front left tire, but Sligar continued to drive awhile, police said, finally bumping to a stop at about milepost 250. Rantoul police arrested her without incident, they said, and locked her up inside the police station.

ambulance photo at night

Arlington Heights Ambulance R2 (running as Ambulance 4) back in service at a Long Grove fire scene on Monday night. Larry Shapiro photo

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Ambulance stolen from local hospital

The the Chicago Tribune has an article about Arlington Heights Ambulance 4 being stolen this morning fromNorthwest Community Hospital:

A Minneapolis, Minnesota woman has been charged after police said she stole an ambulance from an Arlington Heights hospital and drove it to Rantoul early Friday morning. Samantha Sligar, 27, was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, according to a statement from Rantoul police.

An ambulance crew was dropping off a patient at Northwest Community Hospital in the northwest suburb about 4 a.m. Friday, according to the Arlington Heights fire department. When the crew returned the ambulance was gone.

A woman took the ambulance and fled the area. She was later spotted by Matteson police traveling southbound on Interstate 57, according to Illinois State Police. By 6:30 a.m., police had stopped the ambulance along I-57 near exit 250, according to the Rantoul Police Department. No injuries were reported.

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