COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — A Chicago Fire Department ambulance crew had to jump out of the back of their ambulance when a man leaving Stroger Hospital stole it to so he could go buy a pack of cigarettes, prosecutors said.
The workers were cleaning the ambulance when William Quackenbush got into the driver's seat and drove off, authorities said. The keys were in the ignition, Assistant State's Attorney Lorraine Scaduto said at the West Town man's bond hearing Monday.
The Fire Department ambulance was parked outside Stroger Hospital, 1901 W. Harrison St., about 6 a.m. Saturday.
The 49-year-old Quackenbush was leaving the hospital after getting treatment when he got in and drove off, forcing the ambulance crew to bail out of the back of the moving ambulance, Scaduto said.
Quackenbush didn't make it far. After he was arrested a few blocks away, he told authorities "he took [the ambulance] because he wanted to get a pack of smokes," Scaduto said.
Quackenbush, of the 500 block of North Desplaines Street, was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Cook County Judge James Brown on Monday ordered him held on $90,000 bail.
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