Woman Steals Ambulance, Police Fire Shots

The Mobile Police Department is conducting an internal investigation after at least one officer fired shots at a runaway ambulance during a bizarre chase through downtown Mobile.

Brent Becker, a Mobile firefighter, responded to a call on Forrest Circle around 4:30 Saturday morning. While Becker and his partner were inside a house tending to a patient, a woman jumped in the driver's seat of their ambulance and drove away.

"My partners was like did you put the truck in gear?" said Becker, who flagged down a nearby police officer. "The lights were on. She didn't know how to turn it off."

Police chased the stolen ambulance onto Interstate ten, then through a maze of city streets. Police Chief Lester Hargrove confirmed shots were fired during the chase, but he refused to release any more information. A spokesperson for the department also refused to give News Five a copy of the department's policy regarding when officers are authorized to fire shots.

The chase ended when the thief crashed into a fire hydrant at the corner of Tuttle Avenue and Dublin Street.

Josephine Armstead, 40, is charged with theft and alluding police. A beer can was found in the front seat of the ambulance after the crash, but Armstead is not charged with any alcohol related offenses.