The OPP have arrested a 29-year-old man following a high-speed chase of an ambulance that was stolen in Cambridge.
It happened around 12:30 a.m. Sunday and the pursuit ensued through Halton region, the GTA and into Wasaga Beach, where the suspect was apprehended around 6:30 a.m. by the Huronia West detachment of the OPP, after a chase that lasted several hours.
Police used GPS to track the ambulance as it travelled along the 401 and passed through the numerous jurisdictions. Huronia OPP were able to eventually stop the vehicle with a spike belt on Hwy. 26 near Rainbow Valley Road, just south of Wasaga Beach.
Acting Sgt. of OPP central headquarters Mark Kinney told Global News the use of the spike belt was for both the safety of the public and the suspect.
“It’s a combination of multiple factors,” said Kinney. “We take the safety of the motoring public the foremost — that’s our primary goal whenever we follow a vehicle — we look at the safety aspects of it all.
“When the individual deploying that vehicle becomes an increased danger to the motoring public, that’s when decisions are made to use different tools or techniques that can safely bring that motor vehicle to a stop and we can reduce injuries to any other motorists as well as the individual in that motor vehicle.”
According to investigators, the ambulance was stolen from Cambridge Memorial Hospital shortly after midnight.
Waterloo police told Global News that paramedics had seen someone lurking around the ambulance bay. They tried to intervene when the suspect entered the vehicle but were unable to stop him before he fled in the ambulance.
There were no injuries reported.
Kinney said the suspect has been charged with possession of stolen property, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and flight from police. He is currently being held for bail.
The identity of the suspect is not available at this time but the man is of no fixed address from the Cambridge-Waterloo area, according to Kinney.
Anyone with information can contact the Ontario Provincial Police or Crime Stoppers.
Global cameraman Jeremy Cohn managed to capture video of the pursuit, as the suspect drove through a number of cities with the emergency lights on the entire time.