Suicidal Man Punched Ambulance Driver, Now on the Loose: Police

Police in Evanston are looking for a suicidal man who punched a female ambulance attendant and fled with his belongings while being transported from a hospital in Skokie to Evanston Hospital Friday night.

The man, Jumal L. Lipscomb, 32, of Milwaukee, Wisc. is also wanted for questioning in a robbery reported shortly after his escape.

According to police, a private ambulance company was transporting Lipscomb around 4:35 p.m. when he struck the 26-year-old attendant and fled out the back of the ambulance southbound while at Gross Point Road and Central Street. The woman received an injury to her nose.

Police later received a call of a robbery in the 2400 block of Hastings Avenue, where an 85-year-old woman said she was struck in the head and had her purse stolen about 25 minutes after the time Lipscomb allegedly escaped from the ambulance. Although there is no direct evidence to link Lipscomb to the robbery call, police say he is wanted for questioning in regards to the report. Police found the woman’s purse in a nearby alley, but it did not include the victim’s wallet and $16 in cash.

Lipscomb is described as a black male, 5’3”, 240 lbs. and wearing hospital scrubs, but he did have a black hooded sweatshirt in his belongings when he escaped.

The suspect may have been seen in the 2400 block of Crawford Avenue shortly after 5 p.m., when a resident reported he was sitting in his vehicle in his driveway when a black man described as “short, heavy set and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt” knocked on his vehicle window. But the resident said that when a police car pulled on to the block the subject quickly walked away eastbound on Colfax Street.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Evanston Police Department at (847) 866-5000.