HOUSTON — A stolen ambulance crashed Tuesday morning in west Houston after it was taken from Memorial Hermann Hospital in the Texas Medical Center by an escapee, Houston police said.
The suspect, who'd apparently stripped off his hospital gown, crashed into a parked car in the 11400 block of Harwin near Boone Road and ran naked to a nearby house.
“Next thing you know, you see the guy running naked. He’s running naked through the neighborhood. And he ran into this home, and I didn’t know if he was going to start shooting or anything," said Roderick Edwards, a witness.
The HPD SWAT team was called to the scene.
"Requested additional resources knowing that this male was an escape threat, had violent tendencies, and potentially had some homemade weapons inside this location," said Megan Howard with HPD's Tactical Operations Unit.
SWAT negotiators began communicating with the suspect, who came out at one point and told them "he was gonna run." They eventually Tased him and shot him with rubber bullets before arresting him.
"He continued to mouth off with officers, said he wasn't going back to jail," Howard said.
She said no weapons were found inside the house.
The ordeal began Monday night when the suspect was caught burglarizing a home near where the crash happened and was arrested, HPD said.
Photos: Stolen ambulance, chase, crash and SWAT standoff
Once in custody on Monday night, the man complained to officers that he had hurt his neck and arm before the incident and was taken to Memorial Hermann Hospital for treatment, according to HPD.
On Tuesday morning, the man asked a nurse to use a restroom and began fighting with officers before running out of the hospital and driving off in the ambulance.
Police chased him 15 miles to west Houston where he crashed near Westpark Tollway and Beltway 8.
A neighbor near the SWAT scene said they'd seen the suspect before and they think he lives at the home where he was hiding out. A woman inside that house wasn't harmed and didn't want to talk on camera.