Crime & Safety
Police: Man Desperate to See Mom Commandeers Rescue Unit
It didn't take long for authorities to catch up with a suspect who allegedly stole a rescue unit left running outside fire station.
Rescue Unit 3 is back at the Commerce Township after a 32-year-old man allegedly stole it to drive to a nearby hospital to see his mom. (Screenshot: WJBK video)
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This happened:
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A guy who wanted to see his mother left some area firefighters scratching their heads over what had become of a shiny red fire rescue unit that had been parked in the driveway of the Commerce Township Fire Station 2 about 4:20 Friday afternoon.
A firefighter had left Rescue Unit 3 running in the driveway while he went inside to get some medical supplies, WJBK-TV reports. When he returned, the rescue unit had disappeared.
Find out what's happening in White Lake-Highlandfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
“We didn’t know exactly when it left or who took it,” firefighter Marcus Leece told The Detroit News. “We didn’t see or hear anything. … We thought someone was playing a joke on us.”
It was no joke.
An aviation unit of the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office spotted the conspicuous vehicle before it got far, just outside the Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital emergency room, Sheriff’s Sgt. Dale Brown said.
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The 32-year-old Commerce Township resident who had allegedly commandeered the emergency rescue unit reportedly said in his defense that “he wanted to see his mother, who he thought or believed to be at Huron Valley Hospital.”
The man was taken into custody in the hospital parking lot.
The unit is vital in responses to motor vehicle crashes and is equipped with Jaws of Life and other life-saving apparatus. It’s also equipped with a pump carrying 500 gallons of water.
Leece said he’s never heard of anything like this in 15 years of rescue work.
“We’re just thankful we got the truck back and nobody got hurt,” he said. “We’re pretty dumbfounded about the whole thing.”
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