A man who was being taken to a hospital caused a ruckus on Interstate 5 north in Vancouver on Thursday night, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office said.
Sheriff’s deputies and Washington State Patrol were called just before 11 p.m. after the patient — Joseph Webb, 37, of Kelso — became “combative” inside the American Medical Response ambulance and reached for his bag.
The medics didn’t know what was inside Webb’s bag and couldn’t restrain him, so they pulled over and got out of the ambulance for their safety.
Deputies negotiated with a Kelso man after he barricaded himself inside an ambulance.
For about half an hour, Webb was in a standoff with law enforcement, “intermittently peeking out through the back doors of the ambulance,” according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies ultimately negotiated with him until he surrendered. He was taken to a hospital in a different ambulance.
No one was hurt, the sheriff’s office said. It’s unclear why Webb originally was being transported by ambulance or whether he will face charges for the standoff with deputies.
— Savannah Eadens; seadens@oregonian.com; 503-221-6651; @savannaheadens
