Coverage spread: 3 sources — 3 unrated
Lean ratings via AllSides / Media Bias-Fact-Check. How this works.
Where they agree
- A woman, identified by police as 24-year-old Grace Vicente, took a running Phoenix Fire ambulance parked near the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre around 11 p.m. on August 27.
Where they differ
- FOX 10 Phoenix reports first responders were on a call and left the keys inside the ambulance; AZFamily initially reported the same but later corrected it, saying the ambulance was running with no keys inside and crews were not on a call.
Phoenix police say a 24-year-old woman, identified as Grace Vicente, got into a running Phoenix Fire ambulance parked near a concert venue late Thursday night, drove off, and crashed into a pickup truck less than two miles away. She was arrested and booked on charges of DUI and theft of means of transportation.
The incident happened around 11 p.m. on August 27 near 83rd Avenue and Encanto Boulevard, close to the Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre, where a Good Charlotte and Avenged Sevenfold concert was underway. Police say Vicente climbed into the driver’s seat of the ambulance, which was running at the time, and drove away. She crashed into another vehicle near 75th Avenue and Osborn Road, about two miles from where she took the ambulance. Officers arrived quickly and took her into custody. The driver of the pickup truck she hit was not seriously hurt, though a person was seen being loaded onto a stretcher and into an ambulance at the crash scene. Investigators say Vicente showed signs of impairment and was booked into jail on the DUI and theft charges.
Were the keys left in the ambulance?
This is the one detail where the reporting shifted. FOX 10 Phoenix’s account, based on the initial police version, says first responders were on a call at the time and had left the keys inside the ambulance. AZFamily initially reported the same thing but later issued a correction: police revised their account to say the ambulance was running but no keys were left inside, and that fire crews were not actually out on a call when the theft happened. That correction changes the picture of how exactly Vicente was able to drive off, though it doesn’t change the outcome — she still ended up behind the wheel and crashed a short distance away.
What do the different accounts add up to?
All three outlets covering the story — AZFamily, 12 News Phoenix, and FOX 10 Phoenix — agree on the core sequence: a woman took an ambulance stationed near the amphitheatre, crashed it into another vehicle within a couple miles, and was arrested on suspicion of DUI and vehicle theft. AZFamily provides the fullest account, including the on-the-ground detail of a stretcher being loaded and the eventual correction about the keys. FOX 10 Phoenix credits its reporting directly to the Phoenix Police Department and includes the keys-left-inside detail that was later walked back elsewhere. 12 News Phoenix offers only a brief note confirming the ambulance was running and parked near the venue, without additional detail on the crash or the suspect.
Why does this kind of incident matter?
An ambulance theft, even one that ends without serious injury, raises questions about emergency vehicle security at high-traffic public events like concerts, where ambulances are often staged nearby in case they’re needed. A stolen ambulance being driven erratically or by an impaired person poses obvious risks — not just to the driver and anyone in her path, but potentially to real medical emergencies if the vehicle needed to be dispatched. The correction about whether keys were left inside also matters for accountability: it affects whether this was a lapse in procedure by first responders or simply a case of someone getting into a running vehicle that wasn’t secured despite no keys being present.
Sources
Featured photo: Lightandtruth via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)