2 in Auto Killed in Collision With Stolen Ambulance

A stolen ambulance driven by an unidentified woman smashed into a car Saturday evening, killing its two occupants, then demolished four parked vehicles in a horrific collision that left a major Anaheim intersection strewn with debris.

The ambulance was stolen from Anaheim Memorial Medical Center minutes before the 5 p.m. collision by a woman in her 50s, who wore a plastic wristband similar to those worn by hospital patients, said Anaheim Police Sgt. Joe Vargas.

The ambulance burst through a red light at La Palma Avenue and Romneya Drive, slicing off the side of a blue Toyota Tercel. The two unidentified men inside the car were killed on impact, Vargas said. The woman was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange with minor injuries.

Passersby and people in nearby John Marshall Park said they stood dumbfounded as the ambulance sped west on La Palma toward the Tercel, which was turning left onto the same street.

“I knew they were going to hit. I was, like, ‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ ” said Vincent Valenzuela, 15, who saw the crash from his front yard. “I had the chills.”

After the impact, Valenzuela rushed to the Tercel but said the two blood-soaked men inside appeared to be dead. He continued to the ambulance, which had flipped onto its side and skidded more than 50 yards along the asphalt. There, he helped a bystander climb onto the vehicle to rescue the driver.

The sound of the crash brought dozens of neighbors to the scene. “I heard the ambulance skidding,” said John Ronquillo, 17. “It was loud, a bunch of metal screeching, like a big can-opener.”

Ronquillo also ran to the ambulance and saw the female driver move her hand. She got up with the aid of another passerby and staggered out through the back of the vehicle.

“She was just shaking,” said Ronquillo, who is Valenzuela’s cousin.

Ronquillo then helped keep other bystanders away from the ambulance, which was spewing gasoline onto the street, which was littered with twisted metal and glass.

“It was coming out real fast,” Ronquillo said. “I was pushing everyone back. I thought it was going to explode.”

Officials at the hospital--only a mile from the accident scene--had not had time to report the ambulance missing before the crash, Vargas said.

Police could not confirm whether the woman was a patient at the medical center or how she ended up behind the wheel of the ambulance.

“We don’t know how she got the keys,” Vargas said. “Whether they were in the vehicle--we just don’t know.”

The woman, who was wearing a flowered dress, was arrested on suspicion of auto theft and was to be booked at the jail facility at Western Medical Center-Anaheim, Vargas said.

Both victims in the Tercel were in their 20s, Vargas said. Police were still attempting to notify the next of kin Saturday night.

Local residents who gathered as investigators wheeled away the bodies complained that the intersection is a dangerous one.

Luis Lopez, who was mowing his lawn right in front of the collision, said neighbors have witnessed numerous accidents at the intersection, the last one occurring three months ago.

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Times staff writer Scott Gold contributed to this report.