Two Arrested For Stealing Ambulance From Tulsa QuikTrip Parking Lot

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- Two men were taken into custody after stealing an EMSA ambulance from the QuikTrip parking lot at 46th Street North and Lewis Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. Friday, according to Tulsa police.

The men were arrested a short time later when the GPS unit on board led police to the vehicle.

Tulsa Police Corporal Darren Bristow called it a crime of opportunity.

"They saw the ambulance and thought they would just take it," he said.

Police say Casey Sheldon Rowe, 19, was behind the wheel when they tried to pull the ambulance over on eastbound Highway 11. He refused to pull over, and led them on a "very low speed pursuit due to the vehicle they had stolen," Bristow said. Top speed was about 60 m.p.h.

Rowe and a passenger, 39-year-old Jason Williams, were arrested in the 3400 block of North Lewis.

"They pulled into the Sinclair station at Lewis and Mohawk, made an obscene gesture to the patrons outside the store, and the officers took them into custody," Bristow said.

Rowe was booked on complaints of larceny of a motor vehicle, eluding police, possession of marijuana, no driver's license, failure to stop at a red light and driving with a revoked license.

Williams was booked on a complaint of joyriding. He was taken to St. John Hospital for minor injuries.

EMSA Public Information Officer Chris Stevens said the medics were not in the vehicle at the time it was taken.

"It is our standard policy to leave each ambulance locked when left unattended and idling; however, it is unknown at this time how the suspects accessed this particular ambulance," Stevens said in a news release.