Authorities have reportedly arrested a man who who stole an ambulance at Emory University Hospital, drove away with two paramedics in back and created a trail of destruction before crashing into a chiropractor's office outside Decatur.
DeKalb County Fire Battalion Chief Doug Brown, speaking at the scene of the crash, said the two paramedics were taken to a local hospital but have been released and sent home.
Authorities said the man behind the wheel jumped out and ran after the ambulance wrecked at Sandy Chiropractic at 1364 Church St., just outside the Decatur city limits.
Brown said he was told the suspect was arrested after going into an apartment complex laundry room and putting on some clothes he found. The arrest was made after the owner of the clothes saw him, Brown said.
CBS Atlanta said the man, identified as Frank Ponquinette, 36, was arrested at nearby Suburban Plaza.
At 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, around four hours after the crash, Church Street was still closed to traffic as Georgia Power crews repaired a broken utilty pole.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the man was a patient at Emory Hospital and dressed in a gown and rubber gloves.
He got behind the wheel of the ambulance and drove away at a high rate of speed. The two paramedics were in back doing paperwork and couldn't access the cab of the ambulance.
"They had to ride it out from Emory to here," Brown said.
The man lost control on Church Street, several miles away.
The ambulance ran off the road and broke the utilty pole, knocked down a sign in front of a small office building at 1376 Church St., smashed through the front porch of M. Cary and Daughters Plumbing Contractors and finally crashed into the front of Sandy Chiropractic at 1364 Church St.
The chiropractic office appeared to be a converted house. Impact knocked off about half the front of the building, leaving the interior open for inspection by people on the street.