Patient steals ambulance that took him to Manhattan hospital, takes it on drunken 25-mile joyride: NYPD
A patient stole the ambulance that took him to a Manhattan hospital Thursday and took it on a drunken 25-mile joyride before he was caught by cops, police sources said.
Matthew Checko had been taken to Mount Sinai Morningside for evaluation, sources said. After he was released, Checko, 47, went back to the same ambulance that had transported him, now parked near the emergency bay unoccupied but with keys in the ignition, and sped off in it about 4:50 a.m., sources said.
The ambulance was tracked by a GPS device and an alert was issued.
State police tried to pull Checko over on I-87 near Exit 9 in Tarrytown in Westchester County and then followed him when he failed to comply, the sources said.
When Checko headed over the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, which connects Westchester and Rockland counties, he ran over the stop strips state troopers had laid across the roadway and the ambulance’s tires deflated.
Checko, who lives in Washington Heights, was arrested and charged for grand larceny, possession of stolen property, DWI and fleeing a police officer.
