CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — 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 12:30 a.m., 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 a.m. after she was located inside the ambulance by a search and rescue team, authorities said.
The Charleston Police Department is still investigating.