WV Woman Dies after Stealing Ambulance from Hospital

November 26, 2022

News Release | AP West Virginia News

Photo/WOWK

CHARLESTON, WV - A West Virginia woman died Thanksgiving Day after she stole an ambulance from a capital city hospital emergency room and crashed it into the Kanawha River, authorities said.

Elizabeth Reed of Hinton was a patient at Charleston Area Medical Center General Hospital when she took Cedar Grove Volunteer Fire Department Ambulance Unit 64 just after 12:30am, Charleston Police Department officials said in a news release. Reed then began driving toward Kanawha Boulevard.

Five minutes later, she struck a cement barrier near Chesapeake Avenue and went over the embankment into the Kanawha River, police said. Reed was pronounced dead at around 10:00am after she was located inside the ambulance by a search and rescue team, authorities said.

The Charleston Police Department is still investigating.