Suspect flees after hitting Scottsdale officer’s motorcycle, taking ambulance
Jun 28, 2021, 2:08 PM | Updated: Jun 29, 2021, 8:10 am
(Photo provided by Scottsdale Police Department)
(Photo provided by Scottsdale Police Department)
PHOENIX – Scottsdale police are searching for a man who allegedly backed his vehicle into an officer’s motorcycle, hit another car and stole an ambulance Monday.
Matthew Thomas Crook, 34, is wanted for a variety of charges, including aggravated assault on an officer and theft of an emergency vehicle, according to a Scottsdale Police Department press release.
An officer suffered minor injuries when Crook appeared to intentionally back into his motorcycle during a traffic stop near Indian School and Scottsdale roads and drove off, with a woman in the passenger seat, police said.
Police released body camera footage of the incident.
Police said Crook then was involved in a collision near 75th Street and Indian School Road and kept driving. The driver of the other vehicle in that incident was not hurt.
The suspects drove into an apartment complex near 78th Street and Camelback Road and fled on foot, police said.
Police then received reports about an ambulance being stolen from a nearby unrelated medical incident. The ambulance was recovered near 79th Street and Heatherbrae Avenue, northwest of Indian School and Hayden roads.
Witness said they saw the suspects run into the neighborhood, and police were able to apprehend the woman.
Crook was last seen wearing a dark shirt with a horizontal stripe and tan pants in a residential area near Indian School and Hayden roads.
He is 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weighs 330 pounds. Crook has brown hair, hazel eyes and tattoos.
The investigation is ongoing, police said.
