Just when you thought YOU were crazy

Police say Leon Perry Hollimon Jr., 37, stole the ambulance from Davidson County Ambulance Service, 937 N. Main St. in Lexington, sometime before 7 a.m. Sunday.

The vehicle was spotted in Danville early Sunday afternoon, but due to
a no-chase policy observed by Danville police, Hollimon was not pursued. Authorities picked up on the vehicle again when Rockingham County sheriff's deputies saw Hollimon driving the ambulance in Ruffin. According to RCSO Public Information Officer Dean Venable, police attempted to stop the vehicle several times using spike strips as the deputies pursued the ambulance down Mayfield and Goose Pond roads. Those attempts were unsuccessful until the pursuit crossed into Caswell County. Two N.C. Highway Patrol cruisers were damaged in the pursuit, but no one was harmed.

After forcing the vehicle to the side of the road, deputies pulled Hollimon out of the cab when he refused to come out voluntarily.

"He told us he was trying to get out of the state because the judge told him to," Venable said, though he was unable to comment on the significance of this statement. Officers noticed that Hollimon had made an attempt to disguise himself, wearing a stethoscope around his neck, a pager on his waist, and carrying two latex gloves in his back pocket. According to Venable, the disguise was less than convincing.

"I don't think anyone would have mistaken him for a doctor," Venable said.

Hollimon's appearance, however, was less strange than the presence of another passenger in rear of the ambulance: a dead deer, fully stretched out, strapped to a gurney inside, with an IV just above one hoof. The 'Doctor' said he was treating 'him' (the Deer) for a heart attack.

Officers were unsure of how Hollimon came into possession of the deer, but according to Venable "it was apparent that he had picked it up off the side of the road." Venable added that the deer had obviously been dead for several days.