A Virginia man who led police on a dayslong manhunt after he allegedly stole an ambulance from a hospital last week while still wearing a hospital gown and with an IV attached to his arm has been released on bond, according to a local report.
Rickey Lowe, 32, was released on a $2,000 bond Monday, just days after he was arrested and charged with grand larceny and auto theft charges in connection to the stolen ambulance, FOX5 Atlanta reported.
"As a general matter, the problem with cash bond is that it transforms crucial detain-or-release decisions into a matter of economics, completely divorced from the question of public safety," Laura Birnbaum, chief of staff and spokeswoman for the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office told the station.
Lowe was arrested Friday near a hotel in Manassas, Virginia, after stealing an ambulance outside Inova Fairfax Hospital, where he was being treated following a crash in a vehicle believed to have been stolen, the Fairfax County Police Department previously said.
On Feb. 19, Lowe had been a passenger in a Toyota Corolla that was reported stolen from a home in Manassas and was allegedly driven by Xxeavius Romoance Marlow, 29.
After Marlow crashed the car, he, Lowe and three other passengers were taken to Fairfax Hospital, where Lowe later stole the ambulance, police said.
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"It took us a couple of days to catch up with him," Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis told the station. "He's a big guy. You’d think we'd find him pretty quickly in his hospital gown with an IV hanging out of his arm, but it took us a couple of days."
Lowe is due to appear in court for a preliminary hearing in May, though it is unclear whether other charges are pending in connection to the stolen vehicle crash.
