A woman who allegedly stole a private ambulance from outside Hilton Head Island’s hospital faces charges related to the joyride, but has not yet been arrested for the vehicle theft. The suspect, a 30-year-old Hilton Head resident, was charged by the South Carolina Highway Patrol last week with reckless driving, driving under suspension and failure to give information and render aid after a traffic accident, according to court records. All three are misdemeanors.
She had not yet been transported to the Beaufort County jail for the felony charge stemming from the ambulance theft, grand larceny, as she was still a patient at Novant Health Hilton Head Medical Center, according to Lt. Daniel Allen, a spokesperson for the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.
The MedTrust ambulance was stolen around 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2 while parked outside the hospital’s emergency room. Deputies used spike strips to stop the vehicle about 10 minutes later on Squire Pope Road after an approximately 5-mile joyride. A MedTrust employee told police he had left the unlocked ambulance outside the emergency department’s entrance with the keys in the ignition as he took a patient inside. A senior director for the company said MedTrust wished to pursue charges against Miller for the theft of the vehicle, which including its contents was valued at about $70,000…