Ambulance drives through yards, damages property

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. - An ambulance worker faces numerous charges for damaging numerous yards and public property, after police said he took off with his company's ambulance and drove through people's yards.

The neighborhood off of Cambridge View Drive has plenty of damage still visible, from numerous dented mailboxes, a smashed transformer, and even broken tree branches.

Gwinnett County Police said 22-year-old Kyle Lathon was in a heated argument with the driver of the MedCare EMS Transport vehicle when attempting to pick up a patient in the neighborhood. Police said Lathon grabbed the driver by the neck, chased him with a knife around the vehicle, then got into the driver's seat and sped off.

One neighbor saw the driver clinging to the back of the vehicle.

“I see a gentlemen hanging off the back of it, yelling, ‘Help me, call 911,’” a neighbor said.

The driver suffered a laceration to his leg.

Lathon was arrested after he drove the ambulance back to his workplace.

“An ambulance is supposed to help people. Not to fight,” another neighbor, who has plenty of damage to his yard, said.

Lathon was arrested for five counts of hit and run, striking a fixed object, one count of reckless conduct, and one count of criminal trespass.