Man, 34, charged with stealing ambulance outside St. Bernard Hospital

A 34-year-old Englewood neighborhood man is facing felony charges after he allegedly stole a Chicago Fire Department ambulance Tuesday morning outside St. Bernard Hospital.

Rodney Nicholson was waiting to be treated for an injury just before 4 a.m. at the hospital when he became impatient and disruptive, “which led to him being thrown out of the hospital,” according to a statement from Chicago Police.

After leaving the hospital, located at 326 W. 64th St., Nicholson stole an ambulance that was parked outside and crashed it into a light pole a block away, police said. Officers pulled the ambulance over in the 6300 block of Yale Street and found him in the driver’s seat.

In a statement Tuesday afternoon, the hospital disputed that Nicholson was kicked out of the hospital for being disruptive.

“For more than 100 years, St. Bernard Hospital has delivered care with dignity to anyone in need,” Chief Operations Officer Roland Abellera said in the statement. “Today’s news reports stating a patient was ‘kicked out’ are simply and completely untrue.”

After coming to the hospital about 3:45 a.m., Nicholson refused to be triaged or medically screened when emergency department staff tried to treat him, Abellera said.

“The patient insisted on leaving, and left the [emergency department] of his own accord,” Abellera said.

As Nicholson was leaving, a second patient was being brought into the emergency department who was disruptive, but was treated, Abellera said.

When asked about the earlier statement provided by police, a CPD spokeswoman said Nicholson’s arrest report did not indicate what occurred before he left the hospital and entered the ambulance.

Nicholson was charged with felony counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle and criminal damage to property over $10,000, police said.

His bail was set at $50,000 at a hearing Wednesday, according to Cook County court records.

A man crashed a stolen ambulance into a pole about a block away from St. Bernard Hospital | Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times