West Midlands Ambulance Service has released CCTV footage showing a man breaking into an ambulance to loot paramedics’ belongings as they treated a patient nearby.
The footage, captured on the vehicle’s cameras, shows an unidentified man approach the emergency vehicle on a residential street in Northfields, south Birmingham, at around 9pm on Sunday evening.
As paramedics responded to a call-out in a nearby house, the man is shown trying to open the doors of the empty ambulance.
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He then forces his way through the driver’s window, before hauling himself off the ground in order to reach inside.
When the ambulance crew returned to the vehicle, they found the window smashed and several items missing, including a mobile phone belonging to one of the paramedics.
The ambulance is currently out of service while the window is repaired, the BBC reports.
Nathan Hudson, from West Midlands Ambulance Service, said it was a “despicable crime”.
“I cannot begin to understand why someone would do this to an emergency blue-lighted vehicle which has the sole responsibility of helping people,” he said. “It really does make you question the morals of some people.”
The footage has been passed on to police, who are appealing for anyone who recognises the assailant to come forward.
In May this year, an ambulance in Telford, Shropshire, was vandalised by a “random stranger” while paramedics treated a patient inside.
A month later, an ambulance was damaged in Eastleigh, Hampshire, when yobs pelted the vehicle with items including bricks and glasses after making a hoax 999 call.