In a shocking incident on Saturday, a man went on a wild vehicle theft rampage, stealing and crashing multiple vehicles in Northern Virginia and D.C. One of the vehicles included an ambulance responding to a crash he caused.
Darell T. Caldwell, a 30-year-old from Brandywine, Maryland, was arrested after a chaotic spree that included smashing into over a dozen vehicles. He stole a construction truck, a pickup, and an ambulance consecutively, crashing them successively.
A woman who was enjoying her day near Gravelly Point had a harrowing experience amidst the chaos. She reported hearing the first of the two crashes on Interstate 395, realizing it was a major accident. A video captured a man, believed to be Caldwell, fleeing a crash scene towards Gravelly Point, which is located just north of Reagan National Airport.
The woman recounted how the man emerged from the woods and tried to engage her, asking for a lighter multiple times. But things took a darker turn when he suddenly appeared next to her in one of the stolen trucks, urging her to get inside. Fearing for her safety, she sprinted across a field and reached her vehicle. She observed him continue his erratic driving around the parking area before heading onto the George Washington Parkway in the wrong direction, resulting in another crash. In a twist, he then commandeered an ambulance that had arrived in response and fled once more.
She provided a statement to the police over the phone, expressing dismay that no one intervened during her terrifying ordeal. “It felt like an attempted abduction,” she said, shaken by the experience.
After Caldwell’s arrest, sources indicated he collapsed and required Narcan. He is anticipated to face charges in both Virginia and D.C. on multiple fronts.