By Noah Feit
The State
UNION COUNTY, S.C. — A South Carolina man is behind bars after leading law enforcement officers on a chase through multiple counties after he stole an ambulance from a hospital, the Union County Sheriff’s Office said.
Terrance Trent Darby, a 34-year-old Anderson resident, was charged with multiple crimes in Union County, including attempted murder, the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Darby was also charged with reckless driving, failure to stop for blue light, disregarding a traffic control device, and endangerment of a highway worker, Union County court records show.
The Sept. 14 incident began in Spartanburg County, where Darby stole an ambulance from Spartanburg Medical Center’s Mary Black hospital campus, the sheriff’s office said.
The Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office said that Darby was a patient at the hospital who drove away in the empty but running ambulance that was parked outside of the hospital’s emergency room, WSPA reported.
Before the chase entered Union County, the ambulance hit a Spartanburg Police Department patrol vehicle, according to WSPA.
Union County deputies took command of the pursuit when it entered the county on U.S. 176 and they deployed stop sticks before the ambulance reached the city limits, but that failed to stop the stolen vehicle, according to the sheriff’s office release.
The stolen ambulance continued into the city where stop sticks were used again and hit the vehicle’s tires, the sheriff’s office said. The ambulance began to slow down before stopping in the parking lot of an old school on Sims Drive, according to the release. That’s about 30 miles from the hospital where the ambulance was stolen.
Darby was taken into custody without incident, the sheriff’s office said.
No injuries were reported, but the attempted murder charge stems from Darby driving toward a sheriff’s office captain who was setting up stop sticks, according to an arrest warrant.
Bond was denied on all of the charges, and Darby is locked up at the Union County Detention Center, jail records show. Darby is also being held for the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office, according to jail records, but information on that charge was not available.
Darby is scheduled to return to court on Dec. 18, according to Union County judicial records.
Prior to the chase, Darby was out on bond on a trespassing charge that is still pending, Spartanburg County court records show.
On Sept. 1, Darby pleaded guilty to a possession of a stolen vehicle charge from July and was sentenced to time served of 32 days, according to Spartanburg County court records.
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