An emergency medical technician is facing several charges after he drove an ambulance recklessly through several yards in a Duluth subdivision, Gwinnett County police said.
Police say Kyle Lathon, 22, took control of the ambulance from his crew partner and pulled a knife on him before the damaging drive.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a suspicious vehicle call on Cambridge Park Court. Several residents said an ambulance was speeding through the subdivision and knocking down mailboxes.
Officers talked with a man who had a large laceration on his leg, which he said he got after jumping off the back of a moving ambulance, police spokesman Cpl. Deon Washington said.
The man, who originally was driving the ambulance that belonged to private company Med Care EMS Transport, said he and Lathon worked for a Buford company and had been arguing all day, Washington said. The men went to the subdivision to pick up a person and realized they had left their wheelchair at the hospital. That caused additional tension, the man told police.
The men went back to the hospital, picked up the wheelchair and returned to the location, Washington said. The driver asked Lathon to take the wheelchair to the passenger. Instead, Lathon got out, walked around the ambulance, grabbed the driver by the throat and pulled him out of the vehicle, Washington said.
At that point, Lathon pulled a knife and chased the man around the ambulance. Lathon then jumped into the driver’s seat as the other man jumped onto the ambulance’s rear bumper, Washington said.
Lathon sped off as the other man clung to the ambulance, Washington said, and the man jumped off the bumper soon after. Lathon continued through the neighborhood, striking at least five mailboxes, a transformer, and driving through several yards and over curbs.
Lathon returned the ambulance to the business in Buford a short time later, Washington said. He then was arrested on charges of hit and run/striking a fixed object (five counts), reckless conduct and criminal trespass, all misdemeanors.
