A homeless and apparently carless man allegedly stole an unlocked ambulance so he could go to a Detroit strip club called called the Booby Trap.
The theft of the vehicle occurred outside the entrance of the McLaren Hospital in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac on Sunday night, the Detroit News explained. “Attendants had taken a patient on a gurney into the hospital emergency room about 11 p.m. When they went back outside, the ambulance was gone. The ambulance was left with its keys in the ignition and the engine running, investigators said.”
Oakland County, Mich., Sheriff Michael Bouchard said that when the man was detained about 20 miles down the road in Sterling Heights, “He told the deputy he was hoping to go to the Booby Trap to see some pole dancing. You can’t make this up,” the Oakland Press reported .
While this scenario would unlikely be classified as an emergency, the Sheriff added that the man pointed out that no public transportation was available to take him to the topless nightspot.
Cops were able to locate the ambulance by tracing a cell phone that was left in the vehicle. The homeless man, who police claim has mental health issues, was cooperative with the officers who pulled him over as he was slowly heading to the nude bar.
One of the perhaps surprising aspects of this incident is that it occurred in Michigan rather than Florida. The suspect, however, according to CBS News Detroit “has a prior criminal history in Florida for robbery and in Michigan for breaking and entering, possession of marijuana and several convictions for trespassing, police said.”
The suspect, 51, faces a charge of Unlawfully Driving Away of an Automobile and was released on a $5,000 bond along with a GPS monitor. He is due back in court on December 9.
Added Sheriff Bouchard: “Obviously an ambulance not only has expensive items in it, including drugs, it’s an expensive vehicle by itself.”
As a footnote, apparently the Booby Trap has gone out of business. Leaving aside just for a second the serious implications of stealing an ambulance, the joyride, if successful, could nonetheless have had a happy ending, as it were. An adult entertainment venue called the King of Diamonds is reportedly now in operation at the same location.
In an unrelated matter, Pontiac, Mich., is also the city where police briefly stopped a man last week for walking with his hands in his pockets .
[image via Shutterstock ]
