Morganton Driver: Amnesia Led To Ambulance Theft, Chase

MORGANTON, N.C.,None — A Morganton man raised eye-brows this summer with an outlandish auto theft.

Authorities in Tennessee said Bruce Burdick, 55, of Morganton, led police on a chase in a stolen ambulance after his hospital discharge on June 19 in Murfreesboro.

The story hit the wire and news agencies around the region reported on the incident.

Those agencies got all the sensation from the incident, Burdick said, but missed some important facts.

Burdick doesn't deny the theft — he says he can't.

The 55-year-old said he received a traumatic brain injury in a wreck the day before and was suffering from memory loss for an eight-day span from which he recalls little.

"I wasn't in my right mind," he explained.

Burdick, a manager at Emory, said he was in Nashville for a family emergency in mid-June. He was making his way home on June 18 when he fell asleep at the wheel, colliding with a tree.

He was taken to Middle Tennessee Medical Center in Murfreesboro. Doctors diagnosed him with a "closed head injury with amnesia," according to Burdick and a thick folder of medical documentation.

"They should have admitted me for observation," Burdick said.

Instead, medical workers let Burdick walk out the front door where an ambulance was left unlocked and running.

The theft and subsequent chase was well covered. Numerous news agencies reported that Burdick stole the ambulance valued at $120,000 and that a deputy with the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office stopped the 55-year-old.

He was taken back to Middle Tennessee Medical before officers booked Burdick on charges of felony theft and evading arrest.

Burdick was released from the Rutherford County Adult Detention Center.

He insists he doesn't remember the theft, or much of anything, for the eight days following his wreck.

Burdick's claim seems to have traction in the Rutherford County General Sessions Court as a judge decided to retire the charges on July 28. Under Tennessee law, retiring a charge means the count is dismissed entirely if the accused does not commit another crime for a year.

As part of the verdict, Burdick was ordered to pay court costs and $52 to Med Stat, the company that owns the ambulance. The $52 fee was meant to cover gas and a $2 sweet tea Burdick drank while driving the emergency vehicle.

Burdick's issues with Murfreesboro's hospital don't end with a premature discharge for an amnesiac.

Once his wife posted bail and Burdick was back in Morganton, he was taken to Grace Hospital where doctors discovered his spleen had ruptured during his wreck. He'd lost two liters of blood in internal bleeding after Middle Tennessee Medical overlooked during his two visits.

After Grace treated Burdick for his spleen, he developed pneumonia and spent three days in intensive care at Mission Memorial Hospital in Asheville.

Burdick says the crime he can't remember is one he hopes people can learn to forget. The bizarre tale of Burdick pilfering an ambulance and his brief flight from justice has tarnished the 55-year-old's reputation.

WSOC