CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An ambulance hijacking case caught the attention of several passing motorists on Halloween night in Kanawha County.
The calls to Metro 911 were released Thursday morning on “580 Live” with Charleston Mayor Danny Jones on 580-WCHS, a MetroNews affiliate.
“They stopped and either kicked somebody out or threw somebody out back of the ambulance. The ambulance took off and the back doors were wide open on the ambulance,” one called said.
Scott Marshall, 40, of Charleston, was charged with second degree robbery. Police said additional charges could be filed.
Deputies said he was a patient that was being transported from CAMC General to a Bluefield hospital for a mental evaluation when he got violent with one of the medics. Marshall allegedly punched the medic in the face and body. The driver of the ambulance stopped the vehicle to help and then Marshall took off driving.
“Be advised. It’s going to be the patient that stole the ambulance,” Metro 911 reported on the call. “It’s going south toward Beckley.”
The incident happened on Interstate 64. Marshall called 911 twice, claiming he was being kidnapped.
“I’m in the back of an ambulance and I think I’m getting set up,” he told a dispatcher.
The medic was still in the back of the ambulance when Marshall took off, deputies said. Deputies said Marshall stopped the vehicle at one point and the medic was able to jump out of the back of the ambulance.
Kanawha County Metro 911 Director John Rutherford said they thought the medic was still on board when Marshall was apprehended.
“We knew one person had been put out along the Interstate, but as far as we knew until the arrest, there was still a female subject in the ambulance. We found out later that she was dropped off in Rand,” he said.
Rutherford said the ambulance was from Bluefield, so they weren’t able to track it. He said the public played a major role in Marshall’s arrest.
“Metro has screens where we can follow the ambulance where it goes, so if it would’ve been one of our ambulances here, we would’ve been able to track them on the screen and let law enforcement know where they were immidiately. Since that didn’t happen, we were relying on calls from the public and it was rather confusing where the ambulance was,” he said.
No one was hurt in the incident.
“I think it’s very good that the two medics in the ambulance weren’t hurt because this was a very serious situation,” said Kanawha County Sheriff Mike Rutherford.
Marshall is in the South Central Regional Jail.