--- title: Man Steals Ambulance Because It Was "Too Hot to Walk" description: The Arizona man had just been released from the hospital for a "heat related situation" and wanted to get a sandwich. canonical: https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-07-26T14:59:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:54:02.198Z og:title: Man Steals Allegedly Steals Ambulance for Sandwich Quest og:description: The Arizona man had just been treated at the hospital for a heat issue og:url: https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Man Steals Allegedly Steals Ambulance for Sandwich Quest twitter:description: The Arizona man had just been treated at the hospital for a heat issue twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Man Allegedly Steals Ambulance for Sandwich Quest Because It Was Too Hot to Walk > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=91ab2c82-5e3c-459c-a8c0-e33d0f998f13&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 26, 2018 2:59 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jul 26, 2018 2:59 PM UTC Stealing an ambulance is illegal — but in [this instance](https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article215532005.html), it might just be understandable for some. On Monday, Arizona [police reported](https://mesapd.blogspot.com/2018/07/suspect-arrested-for-stealing-ambulance.html), a man took off in an ambulance from the hospital after being released for “a heat related situation.” His intention: to drive home and collect money so he could get a sandwich, claiming it was “too hot to walk home.” More than 155 people died from causes in the Phoenix area [related to heat](https://www.npr.org/2018/07/09/624643780/phoenix-tries-to-reverse-its-silent-storm-of-heat-deaths) in 2017\. It’s [Arizona](http://time.com/5205767/uber-autonomous-car-crash-arizona/) in July, so his definition of “too hot” is pretty accurate; weather sites recorded the high of the day [at 115 degrees](https://www.accuweather.com/en/us/mesa-az/85203/july-weather/331799). That’s not exactly [pleasant weather](http://time.com/5245779/climate-change-air-pollution-health/) for a stroll to the sandwich shop, especially given that the man, identified as 37-year-old Todd (Tanner) Shell, had just been admitted to the hospital because of the heat in the first place. According to the Mesa Police Department [report](https://mesapd.blogspot.com/2018/07/suspect-arrested-for-stealing-ambulance.html), after Shell was discharged from Banner Desert Hospital, he found the idling ambulance unoccupied; it had just dropped off another patient. The police were able to track down Shell in the stolen (and, hopefully, air-conditioned) vehicle and booked him for two class 5 felonies, including unlawful use of means of transportation and unlawful flight from law enforcement. In their report, they noted he “intended to return the ambulance.” Hopefully Shell finds a better ride home when he’s released this time. > [](https://twitter.com/MesaPD/status/1022204937587941377) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/"},"headline":"Man Allegedly Steals Ambulance for Sandwich Quest Because It Was Too Hot to Walk","datePublished":"2018-07-26T14:59:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:54:02.198Z","description":"He had just been released from the hospital","url":"https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","viral"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5349835/man-steals-ambulance/","name":"Man Allegedly Steals Ambulance for Sandwich Quest Because It Was Too Hot to Walk"}}]}] ```