Sunday was an unnerving day for one particular Chicago Fire Department ambulance crew working the Englewood neighborhood.
A bullet fired during an altercation at a house party hit the side of the ambulance, parked in the 2700 block of West 68th Street.
Paramedics didn’t even realize what had happened right away. They were in the rear of the ambulance dealing with a 19-year-old woman who was going berserk — violently flailing her arms and legs. She repeatedly kicked one paramedic in the face and scratched him.
The ambulance had arrived about 4 a.m. because the woman was unconscious and unresponsive.
“She woke up in a rage” shortly after she was put on a gurney and loaded into the ambulance, fire department spokesman Larry Langford said.
Adding to the chaos were the woman’s mother and other relatives banging on the ambulance and demanding to see the woman, Langford said.
One paramedic drove the ambulance a few blocks away from the pandemonium, where they were met by Chicago police, who handcuffed the woman.
“They’d never seen a patient in that kind of rage state before,” Langford said. “It wasn’t like it was directed at somebody, she was smashing and flailing and hitting anyone and anything.”
The woman, Latorya Thigpen, 19, was charged with two felony counts of aggravated battery.
Both Thigpen and the paramedic were treated for minor injuries at Holy Cross Hospital.
The bullet that hit the ambulance didn’t enter the vehicle.
“There’s nothing that would lead us to believe the ambulance was targeted,” Langford said.
Police are investigating the shooting.
