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Officials investigating after items found in ambulance at CMC

By Angela Hong
By Angela Hong

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Charlotte-Mecklenburg police believe someone broke into an ambulance Wednesday morning, sparking a bomb scare at Carolinas Medical Center in Dilworth.
 
HazMat crews were called out to CMC around 4 a.m. after officials found what they originally thought were two suspicious devices inside an ambulance on the hospital's campus.

https://twitter.com/AngelaWSOC9/status/628881574034059264
 
A spokesperson for CMC told Channel 9 that two devices were left in the back of a MedCenter Air ground ambulance parked behind the annex building, near the emergency department.
 
Around 6:30 a.m., officials said the devices were not dangerous, and started investigating the incident as a breaking-and-entering crime.
 
The ambulance had been parked there for several hours, according to officials.

  • CLICK PLAY -- Raw video of CSI technicians at CMC:

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Investigators told Channel 9 the ambulance was parked in an area of the hospital that is easily accessible to pedestrians.
 
Around 5:15 a.m. a bomb technician was called to CMC and officials were looking at surveillance video to see if there was someone in that area who shouldn't have been.
 
This is the second suspicious-device scare at CMC Main in the last week.
 
On Friday, Channel 9 reported that a beeping electronic EpiPen sparked another bomb scare and the emergency department was shut down for two hours.
 
"It's probably unusual [to have two bomb scares in a week], but we train for situations like this," CMC spokesperson Kevin McCarthy said. "Often those drills are unannounced. So it's a good way to keep our people on their toes and trained to react quickly."
 
McCarthy said even though in both incidents the suspicious devices turned out to be harmless, the hospital was right to call police and fire crews.

https://twitter.com/wsoctv/status/628881010076327936
 
"We err on the side of caution. The safety of our patients and employees is of the utmost concern to us, so we don't want to take any chances. When there is anything that has even the least bit of suspicion attached to it, we have a procedure in place to react to it," McCarthy said. 
 
Mary Diaz, a Charlotte resident, agreed. 
 
"I feel like it's better to err on the side of caution in order to keep everyone safe," Diaz said. Two hours [of inconvenience] is nothing compared to a lifetime of the bigger ramifications that could be done."
 
McCarthy said ambulances are usually locked when they are not in use, and the driver of the ambulance said he locked the doors.
 
CMPD and CMC are investigating how someone was able break into the ambulance.

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