photo by Brent McDonald (See video on NewsChannel 9)
A man stole a Memorial ambulance that was at Erlanger on Friday afternoon while the driver was inside. The man was later arrested after the driver got him to bail out by yanking him from behind.
A call was received by Hamilton County 911 at 2:09 p.m. regarding an ambulance from Memorial being stolen from the Erlanger emergency room parking lot. Further information was that an employee was inside the rear of the ambulance at the time it was stolen.
The driver of the Memorial Hospital ambulance stated to deputies he dropped a patient off at Erlanger’s emergency room and then pulled the ambulance out of the way due to the amount of ambulance traffic.
While he was in the rear of the vehicle cleaning, someone jumped into the driver’s seat and pulled out of the lot into traffic.
He yelled for the man to stop, but he just accelerated faster. The victim was yelling at the ambulance-jacker and attempting to call out on his radio reporting the theft.
Although the victim was yelling for the suspect to stop, he refused at which time the victim reached through the window and pulled on the suspect to the point he stopped the ambulance.
The man jumped from the ambulance and ran towards the Whitehall Building. A short time later he was located in a red Ford van parked in the Whitehall garage.
John Edward Shanks, 29, was taken into custody by deputies with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and charged with auto theft over $100,000, kidnapping, reckless endangerment and burglary of an auto.
He was transported to the Hamilton County Jail for booking.
It was also found that Shanks has outstanding warrants both in East Ridge and in Catoosa County, Ga.