Wisconsin man accused of being naked and stealing ambulance with patient inside

A Wisconsin man will appear in a circuit court Friday for reckless endangerment and other charges after police accused him of stealing an ambulance and being naked while doing so.

Benjamin Feltz, 38, is being held on $100,000 bond and is due in court Friday. He’s facing felony charges of reckless endangerment, taking and driving a vehicle without consent, fleeing police while driving and threatening to harm law enforcement, along with misdemeanor charges of lewd behavior and obstruction of emergency response, per court records.

The Wisconsin Rapids Police Department said that at 5:37 p.m. Tuesday, two paramedics were securing a patient in the back of an ambulance in the town 130 miles northwest of Milwaukee when Mr. Feltz got into the driver’s seat. 

The patient, a 50-year-old woman, according to Wisconsin’s WJFW-TV, was not injured, and neither was Mr. Feltz.

One paramedic got out to try and talk to Mr. Feltz while the other tried to stop the ambulance from moving, but the second paramedic ultimately got out safely, police said, before Mr. Feltz steered from the scene. Mr. Feltz was also naked, according to a criminal complaint cited by WJFW.

Police chased the ambulance for 18 miles over the course of 40 minutes before deflating the vehicle’s front tires with spike strips.

Over the course of the chase, which reached as fast as 90 mph, the patient in the ambulance, who has not been publicly named, screamed at Mr. Feltz, “You (expletive), I’m dying from kidney disease!” according to the complaint as cited by Milwaukee’s WISN-TV.

Wisconsin Rapids police said Mr. Feltz drove into a muddy field once the tires were deflated before refusing to leave the ambulance.

Officers then surrounded the vehicle and got Mr. Feltz to exit before taking him into custody. The officers immediately noticed that his speech was slurred and that he was slow to respond, according to WJFW.

The officers administered a breathalyzer test to Mr. Feltz, who blew a 0.0, but he told them marijuana could be in his system and that he drank half a bottle of Fabuloso chemical cleaner earlier that day, according to the complaint as cited by Wausau’s WSAW-TV.

Police took Mr. Feltz to the hospital, where he became agitated and told officers, “It’s time for you to feel my pain” and “It’s your turn to die,” reported WISN.

Mr. Feltz is also being charged with disorderly conduct, failing to abide by a court order regarding an ignition interlock device, operating a motor vehicle while his license was revoked and operating a vehicle while intoxicated, purportedly his third such offense.