(Updated at 8:15 p.m.) Fairfax County police combed Annandale last night for a man who reportedly stole an ambulance while getting treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital after a vehicle crash off I-66 near Fair Oaks.
The crash occurred at the eastbound Route 50 ramp to westbound I-66 around 12:30 p.m. yesterday (Monday) when officers attempted to stop a 2015 Toyota Corolla that was identified as stolen from another jurisdiction, according to the Fairfax County Police Department and scanner traffic on Open MHz.
The officers saw the driver pulling out of a Fair Oaks Mall parking lot when he spotted them and “accelerated at a high rate of speed,” the FCPD said in an update.
“The driver quickly changed directions and drove towards the westbound I-66 ramp,” the police department said. “The driver lost control of the Corolla, entered the embankment, and struck a small hill sending it airborne. The vehicle landed against a concrete wall on the exit ramp of westbound I-66 toward Route 50 eastbound.”
The crash was captured on traffic camera video shared by public safety watcher Dave Statter.
NEW: According to police, the person who stole the ambulance at Inova Fairfax is one of the five people injured in this crash of a stolen car today at Route 50 and I-66 in Fair Oaks. @FairfaxCountyPD handling. More to come. Video of the crash from @safetyvid. @ffxnow… pic.twitter.com/F3RuaZYT5v
— Dave Statter (@STATter911) February 20, 2024
According to the FCPD, all five of the vehicle’s occupants received first aid, and four of them were taken to Inova Fairfax Hospital, one with injuries initially considered life-threatening.
However, while getting treated at the hospital, one of the passengers left and took off in a private ambulance.
“While not yet discharged, he walked away from treatment with an IV in arm, jumped in a private transport ambulance and stole it,” the FCPD said in a tweet at 10:29 p.m.
The ambulance was located in the 4200 block of Annandale Road in Annandale that evening, but the man who allegedly stole it still hasn’t been found, despite “an extensive search” by Fairfax and Prince William County police officers, according to the FCPD.
Identified by police as Rickey Lowe, 32, of Manassas, the man is now wanted for grand larceny in connection to the ambulance’s theft.
The FCPD says that two guns, a bag of “unknown white powder” and drug paraphernalia were found in the Corolla that crashed at the I-66 and Route 50 interchange. The driver remains hospitalized and has been charged with grand larceny.
Preliminarily, the vehicle returned as stolen from another jurisdiction & a firearm has been recovered. Rt. 50 eastbound and Rt. 50 westbound ramps to I66 are closed as the investigation continues. Please use an alternate route. (2/2) #FCPD
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) February 19, 2024
Suspect was a passenger in the crash earlier on I66 and receiving treatment at Fairfax Hospital. While not yet discharged, he walked away from treatment with an IV in arm, jumped in a private transport ambulance and stole it. (1/2)
— Fairfax County Police (@FairfaxCountyPD) February 20, 2024
