Apparent firing leads to ambulance pursuit

EAST OAK LANE - April 24, 2012 (WPVI) -- Police are sorting out what led up to the pursuit of an ambulance through the streets of Philadelphia, which ended in the city's East Oak Lane section Tuesday morning.

There are a lot of unanswered questions - was this the unlawful taking of an ambulance based in Montgomery County, or was this simply a misunderstanding with a now former employee who said he was headed for home?

What is known is that Novo Care Ambulance 363-70 should not have been surrounded by police at 2nd Street and Cheltenham Avenue. It should have been some 40 miles away at Pottstown Hospital. But for some reason its driver, who was taken into custody, did not go to Pottstown Hospital. That led to a series of phone conversations with his boss and the driver's apparent dismissal, police say.

Instead of returning the ambulance to company's home base, the driver headed to Philadelphia where he apparently lives.

Complicating matters, onboard was a coworker. The question for police to sort out: Was the coworker taken against his will, or did he agree to go along for the ride in order to drop off the driver at his home and then drive the ambulance back to its home base?

So is someone going to be charged in this, or was this simply a misunderstanding by a former coworker? Police are trying to sort that out. At this point they will want to talk to the coworker, as well as the Novo Care Ambulance Company to try and figure out just what to do in this particular incident.

There was no patient in the ambulance when the vehicle went on its unscheduled journey.

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pottstown, montgomery county, philadelphia, police chase, local/state

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