Benjamin Herrington charged with stealing CFD ambulance, after 75-mile chase along I-55
DWIGHT, Ill. (CBS) -- The 46-year-old man facing charges of fleeing and resisting police after stealing a Chicago Fire Department ambulance, is a non-practicing attorney who was having a mental health crisis.
That's according to a relative of the suspect.
CBS 2's Marissa Perlman reports, Benjamin Herrington of Chicago was arrested after taking police on a wild ride for some 75 miles down Interstate 55.
He was apprehended after a foot chase after bailing out of the stolen ambulance near Dwight, Illinois, in southwest suburban Grundy County. Illinois State Police said he has been charged with fleeing to elude a peace officer, resisting/obstructing a peace officer, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Herrington taken to a hospital for a mental health evaluation, he has been taken to the Grundy County Jail, as he awaits transfer to Cook County. He did not take anything from the ambulance.
Chicago Fire Department Ambulance 66 was stolen Monday at the firehouse at 212 W. Cermak Rd. in Chinatown, where it is housed along with Fire Engine 8. The firehouse was one of several featured in the 1991 movie "Backdraft."
The ambulance was soon after spotted on the Stevenson Expressway near Cicero Avenue. Chicago Police abandoned pursuing the ambulance, but officers from numerous other departments chased it as Herrington spoke incoherently over the radio.
The ambulance kept blasting southwest on Interstate 55 into Lemont, Channahon, and beyond. Police pursued the ambulance through Will County at highway speed as the thief drove between the two lanes of southbound I-55.
The ambulance continued on beyond the Chicago area through Gardner and toward Dwight. Its driver's side rear tire was flat for several miles, and Herrington left the driver's side window rolled down.
Near Gardner, Herrington slowed down and opened the window, gesturing toward an Illinois State Trooper with what appeared to be a cellphone in his hand. After apparently exchanging words with the trooper, Herrington drove off again.
Near the Dwight exit, the ambulance began slowing down again and stopped, with more than one tire having come off and the rear axle also shot.
Herrington first bailed out and appeared to surrender on his knees with his hands up, only to change course run off while carrying a backpack. He ran across the grassy median and right into the northbound lanes of I-55, and tried to carjack a red quad pickup truck hauling a trailer by pulling the door open, but the driver sped off before he could do so.
Herrington fell off the pickup truck, and police caught up with him along with a K-9 unit. Police tackled him, and a Dwight ambulance came to the scene to take him away under police guard.
Ambulance 66 sits on the shoulder of SB I-55 at Dwight, where the suspect who stole it ultimately had to park it after losing both left rear tires. The unidentified man was taken into custody after a foot pursuit across NB I-55. pic.twitter.com/hAS3OlIiyX
— Kris Habermehl (@KrisHabermehl) April 26, 2022
There was no one in the ambulance at any point during the pursuit other than the man who stole it. Herrington's motive in stealing the ambulance was not clear.
"We wish to thank the Chicago Police Department, Illinois State Police, and supporting suburban departments for their professionalism and patience in recovering CFD ambulance 66," Chicago Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt said in a statement. "These officers were able to secure the ambulance and get the young man the help he needs without serious injury to himself or members of the public."