--- 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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Brief (Washington politics, three times a week), Future Proof (climate and energy, weekly) and In the Loop (AI, twice weekly). All are free at time.com/newsletters and together reach more than 1.1 million engaged readers. #### Which TIME newsletter should I subscribe to? It depends on what you follow. For a daily briefing, The Brief. For health, Health Matters. For Washington politics, D.C. Brief. For AI and technology, In the Loop. For climate and energy as a business story, Future Proof. For culture recommendations, Worth Your Time. For how TIME's journalism gets made, Inside TIME. Readers can select any combination at time.com/newsletters. #### Are TIME's newsletters free? Yes. All seven TIME newsletters are free to join at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes TIME's newsletters? TIME journalists write them. Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  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"}}]}] ```