Police: 18-year-old Willimantic man steals, crashes ambulance after nearly running over officer earlier in day
A Willimantic driver who almost struck an officer in a crash Tuesday later stole an ambulance outside the hospital and crashed again, police said.
Jose Trujillo, 18, ditched the damaged ambulance, ran away and tried to fight off officers when they took him into custody, they said. One officer had minor injuries.
Trujillo was charged with first-degree larceny; assault on a police officer; interfering with police and breach of peace. He was in custody on $100,000 bail after his arrest, police said.
According to Lt. Douglas Glode, it all started about noon at a construction site at the Mansfield line, where Trujillo nearly struck an officer during a crash. Trujillo was taken to Windham Hospital to be treated for his injuries.
Shortly before 8:45 p.m., after he was discharged, Trujillo stole an ambulance that was parked outside the hospital, crashed it on hospital grounds and bolted, Glode said. Witnesses told police where he was headed; they later said he had been asking people for a ride.
Police said they spotted Trujllo running two blocks away on Valley Street and went after him, arresting him after a struggle.
The ambulance had to be taken out of service because of the damage, they said.
Troopers from the Troop C barracks of the state police are investigating the first crash, Glode said.
Christine Dempsey can be reached at cdempsey@courant.com.
———
©2020 The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.)
Visit The Hartford Courant (Hartford, Conn.) at www.courant.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
