** Tennessee police arrest man after he stole ambulance with EMT inside
** UK ambulance, en route to potential building jumper, catches fire
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Tennessee police in Sweetwater arrested a man Thursday after he stole an ambulance with the EMT still inside. WRCB (July 23) said Joshua D. Hackler, 29, was taken into custody after initially alerting authorities following a suspected shoplifting incident. According to the news site, as Hackler made off with the EMS unit from an area dialysis unit, he also struck a sheriff’s deputy. Eventually crashing the vehicle, he was rapidly cornered by a police dog. He has been charged with attempted second degree murder, theft over $200,000, kidnapping, burglary of an auto, fleeing to avoid arrest, and shoplifting. He also had outstanding warrants on him at the time. The EMT, meanwhile, was not injured in the incident, while the female police deputy is believed to have suffered non life threatening injuries.
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** An electrical fault is being flamed for a fire in an ambulance responding to an emergency in Blackpool Saturday. The Blackpool Gazette (July 23) said the 10:15 a.m. call played out as the prehospital crew attempted to respond to a help hail for a woman threatening to jump from a building. According to the newspaper, police talked the woman down from her perch. The ambulance, however, was engulfed by the blaze coming from her engine compartment. It was tended to by two fire crews. No one was injured in the incident.
