Patient steals ambulance in Riverbank, takes brief joyride to Escalon
A woman who was being treated by paramedics in Riverbank got into the front of the ambulance and took it on a brief joyride with the lights on and sirens blaring Wednesday afternoon.
The Oak Valley Hospital District ambulance crew was treating 29-year-old Savanna Proffitt on Orange Avenue around 1:20 p.m. when at some point she must have been left unattended and got into the driver’s seat, said Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Lt. Josh Clayton.
“Proffitt took it upon herself to activate the lights and sirens, as she crossed over the Stanislaus River and fled toward Escalon in San Joaquin County,” according to a press release.
Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene and, with information from a GPS locator on the ambulance, tracked it about a mile and a half north of Riverbank on Santa Fe Road at Hall Road.
Deputies caught up with the ambulance as it headed into Escalon and initiated a felony traffic stop at Main and Fourth streets.
“Proffitt did not immediately comply with commands given to her by deputies; therefore, a less-than-lethal beanbag gun was used to safely take her into custody,” the release said.
Clayton did not have details about what preceded the use of the beanbag.
Proffitt was taken by a different ambulance to a hospital in San Joaquin County to be medically cleared before being booked into the Stanislaus County Jail on suspicion of auto theft.
Clayton did not have information about the initial ambulance call.
Oak Valley’s ambulance services manager did not return a call from The Bee as of late Wednesday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 22, 2020 at 3:32 PM.
