Woman Steals Ambulance from Suburban Hospital, Leads Police on High-Speed Chase: Police

Police said thy are not sure why a 27-year-old Minnesota woman decided to steal an ambulance early Friday morning from an Arlington Heights hospital and drive it 145 miles south to the village of Rantoul where she was eventually stopped and arrested, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Samantha Sligar, of Minneapolis, has been charged with possession of a stolen vehicle after police said she took off in the ambulance while ambulance crew were dropping off a patient at the emergency area of Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights around 4:15 a.m. Friday, according to CBS Chicago.

Arlington Heights Deputy Fire Chief Pete Ahlman told the Chicago Tribune the paramedics, who had been in the hospital no more than 10 minutes, were shocked when they returned to find their ambulance had been taken. There was no one else in the vehicle.

Silgar was a patient at Northwest Community Hospital at the time of the incident, according to ABC 7 Chicago.

The woman fled in the ambulance. A high-speed chase followed with police calling off the pursuit at one point due to “dangerous conditions” since the woman was driving as fast as 80 mph, according to CBS Chicago.

Rantoul Police said they received calls from drivers who said the woman was “using the siren and driving vehicles off the road,” according to ABC 7 Chicago. She was eventually pulled over by police in Rantoul in northern Champaign County.

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