Police tackle stolen ambulance driver on highway after 70-mile chase
The 46-year-old man charged with stealing a Chicago Fire Department ambulance and fleeing and resisting police is a non-practicing attorney who was suffering from a mental health emergency.
According to a relative of the suspect, this is the case.
According to CBS 2’s Marissa Perlman, Benjamin Herrington of Chicago was arrested after leading police on a 75-mile crazy ride down Interstate 55.
After hopping out of the stolen ambulance and making a run for it, near Dwight, Illinois, in southwest suburban Grundy County. According to Illinois State Police, he has been charged with fleeing to elude a peace officer, resisting/obstructing a peace officer, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Herrington was taken to a hospital for a mental health assessment and then relocated to the Grundy County Jail while awaiting transfer to Cook County. He did not take anything at all from the ambulance.
Ambulance 66 of the Chicago Fire Department was stolen Monday evening from the firehouse at 212 W. Cermak Rd. in Chinatown, where it is housed alongside Fire Engine 8. The fire station was one of several that appeared in the 1991 film “Backdraft.”
Soon after, the ambulance was spotted on the Stevenson Expressway near Cicero Avenue. The Chicago Police Department halted their pursuit of the ambulance, but police from a variety of other depts pursued it as Herrington spoke unintelligibly over the radio.
The ambulance continued on Interstate 55 southwest into Lemont, Channahon, and beyond. As the thief started to drive between the two lanes of southbound I-55, police continued to pursue the ambulance at highway speeds through Will County.
The ambulance continued on beyond the Chicago area through Gardner and toward Dwight. Its driver’s side rear tire was flat for several miles, and Herrington left the driver’s side window rolled down.
There was an Illinois State Trooper near Gardner when Herrington stopped and opened the window. He pointed at the trooper with what looked like a cell phone in his hand. A trooper may have talked to Herrington before he drove off again.
Former attorney charged with stealing ambulance, leading police on chase
The ambulance came to a stop near Dwight. It had more than one tire off, and the rear axle was also broken.
Herrington first jumped out and looked like he was going to give up on his knees with his hands up. Then, he ran off with a backpack on his back. He began running across the grassy median and into the northbound lanes of I-55. He tried to carjack a red quad pickup truck that was towing a trailer by trying to pull the door wide open, but the driver accelerated off before he could do so.
Herrington fell off the truck, and police and a K-9 unit caught up with him. It took a Dwight ambulance to get him from the scene, and police were there to keep him under guard.
