Deputies with Riverbank Police Services were called in to help recover a stolen ambulance on Wednesday, July 22.
According to a press release issued by the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, at about 1:20 p.m. Wednesday, RPS deputies responded to the 3100 block of Orange Avenue in order to assist paramedics who had their ambulance stolen by a 29-year-old female patient. The emergency medical technicians were in the process of trying to treat the woman, later identified as 29-year-old Savanna Proffitt. Patrol deputies, detectives, and traffic enforcement officers responded in order to help locate the red and white Oak Valley ambulance. Officials said Proffitt somehow was able to get into the driver’s seat and “took it upon herself to activate the lights and sirens, as she crossed over the Stanislaus River, and fled towards Escalon” in San Joaquin County. Allied agencies including officers with the Escalon Police Department were made aware of the incident and later assisted Stanislaus County authorities in the effort to apprehend the driver. The ambulance finally stopped fleeing, a high-risk enforcement stop was conducted and, said officials, “the ordeal finally came to a conclusion near the intersection of Fourth and Main streets” in Escalon.
Proffitt did not immediately comply with commands given to her by deputies; therefore, a less-than-lethal beanbag gun was used to safely take her into custody. She was provided medical treatment in San Joaquin County and later booked into the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center for auto theft.