By admin 
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A New Mexico correctional officer is accused of stealing an ambulance while impaired before she crashed into a pickup truck in west Phoenix late Thursday night.
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Phoenix police say Grace Vicente, 24, got into the driver’s seat of a Phoenix Fire ambulance that was parked at Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, near 83rd Avenue and Encanto Boulevard, for the Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold concert around 11 p.m.
Police said the ambulance was running, but the keys were not left inside. Vicente drove off in the ambulance, police said.
Prosecutors said paramedics went to get a gurney and saw the ambulance was gone.
As Vicente was driving away, she crashed into a pickup truck near 75th Avenue and Osborn Road, less than two miles away, police said. Prosecutors said she also hit a wall.
Prosecutors said Vicente passed out in traffic.
“She admitted she blacked out,” a prosecutor said during Vicente’s initial court appearance. “She caused a danger to so many people in this situation.”
Arizona’s Family witnessed a man on a stretcher being loaded into an ambulance, but police say he was not seriously hurt. Officers quickly arrived at the crash scene and took Vicente into custody.
Investigators say Vicente showed signs of impairment and was booked on charges of DUI and theft of means of transportation.
During her first court hearing, her defense attorney asked the judge to release Vicente on her own recognizance.
“She came here to attend a concert … and things just ended up happening that are completely out of her normal nature,” the lawyer said.
He highlighted that Vicente belongs to the Pueblo of Laguna Native American tribe and is a sergeant for the New Mexico Corrections Department. She has worked there for five years.
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A judge set her bond at $7,500.
Not the first ambulance theft
This is not the first time a Phoenix Fire ambulance has been stolen.
“I can tell you this is definitely an occurrence that is happening with greater prevalence lately,” said PJ Dean, a Phoenix firefighters’ union spokesperson, in 2023, after another man, Jaysun Smith, allegedly stole a Phoenix Fire ambulance.
In that case, firefighters and a patient were inside the ambulance.
“This is the first time — that I’m aware of — that a vehicle has been stolen with people on board,” Dean said.
This time, police say no one was inside the ambulance. Dean explained years ago why ambulances are left running.
“We can’t just, the second someone leaves the cab of a vehicle, turn it off and lock it, it’s just not feasible in the emergency environments that we operate in,” Dean said.
In this case, leaving the ambulance running also created an opportunity for the crime.
correction: Police originally said the keys were left inside the ambulance while firefighters were responding to a call. The story has been updated to reflect the ambulance was running but no keys were inside and fire crews were not on a call.
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