Bodycam Video Shows Chase, Arrest Of Suspect Accused Of Stealing EMSA Truck

A woman has been arrested after stealing an ambulance and leading police on a chase, early Saturday morning. On Monday, police have released the body cam video of the chase, and her arrest.

Tuesday, March 19th 2019, 6:53 pm

By: News 9

Bodycam Video Shows Chase, Arrest Of Suspect Accused Of Stealing EMSA Truck

Oklahoma City police have released the bodycam video of a chase, and arrest of a suspect accused of stealing an ambulance Monday.

The incident happened early Saturday morning, police say the woman, 22-year-old Erica Toleda, took the ambulance on a joy ride through south Oklahoma City.

According to EMSA officials, while a crew was inside a local hospital delivering a patient to the emergency room, the paramedics forgot to follow proper procedures, and left the keys inside the vehicle.

“Apparently that individual did try to get into a police car before doing that and was unable to get that police car to move. And it was just a bunch of circumstances that came together that they ended up in our ambulance and were able to get that ambulance moving,” said Heather Yazdanipour, EMSA Director of Regional Medical Response System.

Police were able to track down the stolen ambulance, due to its GPS locator.

Oklahoma City Police ultimately had to throw out stop sticks near Southwest 25th Street and Broadway Avenue in order to puncture the tires and stop Toledo from driving any further.

Thankfully, no one was hurt during the pursuit, but due to the stop strips, the ambulance is currently out of commission.

“Unfortunately, in this day and age, we do have to worry about people trying to steal our ambulances and use them for alternative uses. So, we do have mechanisms in place that actually allow our vehicle operators to remove our keys out of the vehicle and then lock it, but it will still stay running. It’s just in this particular case, those procedures were not followed,” said Yazdanipour.

EMSA is conducting an internal investigation and will also provide additional training on policies and procedures to crews.

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