NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – A New Orleans emergency room ambulance was stolen by a woman Tuesday night (Oct. 29) and taken on a wild ride from Downtown to the Seventh Ward, before being rescued by two EMS workers and their patients still inside. Orleans police said.

It was stated that there were no injuries in the incident.

New Orleans police said the woman was arrested and taken to University Medical Center for a psychiatric evaluation. His identity was not immediately released. Police said an arrest warrant was issued for the woman’s arrest on charges of simple kidnapping and “various traffic offenses” after she was discharged from the hospital.

According to NOPD, the crew of New Orleans EMS ambulance A3282 was treating a male patient for dizziness at the Ozanam Inn on Poydras Street at 6:50 p.m.

While the man was being treated by two EMTs in the backseat of the ambulance, the uninterested woman jumped into the driver’s cab and drove away, driving down Poydras and turning right onto Broad Street, NOPD said.

EMS units were able to alert NOPD units to the location of the stolen ambulance. The woman eventually stopped the stolen ambulance at the intersection of Tarim Street, and when police arrived, the following EMS vehicles pulled forward to block the ambulance.

“He was driving the car. I don’t know if he was drunk or not, but he was driving,” said Isabella Putzke, who watched from her porch as emergency workers removed the woman from the ambulance.

“Finally he opens the door and they grab him and throw him to the ground. And then almost the entire region is revealed.

The woman was removed from the ambulance by EMS personnel and arrested by officers, NOPD said. The arrest occurred around 7 p.m., after the woman drove the ambulance approximately 2.5 miles through the city.

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