Benjamin Herrington makes court appearance, remains in jail on charges of stealing CFD ambulance and leading 75-mile chase
MORRIS, Ill. (CBS) -- A 46-year-old Chicago man remains in the Grundy County Jail on charges of fleeing and resisting police, after he stole a Chicago Fire Department ambulance and led police on a 75-mile pursuit this week.
Benjamin Herrington remains in custody on $20,000 bond.
Meanwhile, a condition of his bond has changed. The original conditions of his bond would have allowed him to leave the state if he posted bond and were released – but now, he may not leave the state.
Herrington was arrested after taking police on that wild chase on Monday.
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.
Herrington was charged with charged with fleeing to elude a peace officer, resisting/obstructing a peace officer, and possession of a stolen motor vehicle. A relative said he is a non-practicing attorney who had been in the midst of a mental health crisis.
It was unknown Thursday whether Herrington might be subject to additional charges in other jurisdictions.
The case will be presented to a Grundy County grand jury for possible indictment on Wednesday, May 4.
