Unlawfully taking an ambulance may have been only a prank, but St John says it is more than happy police are prosecuting the man allegedly responsible.
A 22-year-old man appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday after allegedly unlawfully taking a St John ambulance he had called for his friend, who fractured his skull and vertebrae after falling 4m on to concrete.
Senior Sergeant Craig Brown said the incident happened at 11pm in Orbell Rd, North Dunedin.
While paramedics helped his 27-year-old friend, the 22-year-old man jumped in the ambulance and drove it about 50m along the road, Snr Sgt Brown said.
One of the paramedics chased the ambulance and caught up with the man, telling him to stop and get out of the vehicle.
The man allegedly ran off, but was arrested a short time later in a nearby street. He recorded more than double the legal breath-alcohol limit.
His friend was taken to Dunedin Hospital.
St John southern region operations manager Doug Third said this was about the fourth incident he could recall in the past 25 years of an ambulance being stolen in Dunedin.
Ambulance officers sometimes left ambulances unlocked, and with the engines running, when they arrived at scenes because they wanted to keep the heater going, or while they were standing beside it, as was the case in this incident.
The taking of an ambulance was usually a drunken prank and it was usually found a short distance away.
St John did not take kindly to its ambulances being taken, he said.
Not only did it put the patient at risk, but also the crew and other members of the public, particularly if a drunk person tried to drive a heavy ambulance.
"This was silly and we have zero tolerance for this sort of behaviour. We are pleased the police are prosecuting."
• Mark Sharn Arthur (22), unemployed, was remanded in custody by consent and without plea to August 19 when he appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday on charges of unlawfully taking a Mercedes Benz ambulance, property of the Order of St John Southern Region, and driving with breath-alcohol level of 827mcg on Orbell St on August 11.
