Police: Man Steals Ambulance After Accident In Puerto Rico

SAN JUAN (AP) — A man involved in a car accident Monday in Puerto Rico’s capital fled the scene in an ambulance that had arrived to help him, police said.

The incident occurred when the unidentified man hit another car on one of Puerto Rico’s busiest highways in a minor fender-bender, Police Lt. Elvis Zeno told The Associated Press.

An ambulance was called out of precaution, and when the police officer at the scene was surveying the damage and taking notes, the suspect jumped into the ambulance and fled, he said.

Police pursued the suspect from San Juan to the nearby city of Caguas but found only the abandoned ambulance, authorities said.

Zeno said it’s the first time he has heard of such an incident, adding that he wasn’t that surprised: “People have lost their values. They don’t value life or safety.”

Police were still looking for the suspect on Monday evening, noting that he was traveling alone when the accident occurred.

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.