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Daniel Grant Wyres, 37, of Marlton got into the unattended ambulance and drove off from the East Ridgewood Avenue facility at 12:50 p.m., Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton said.
The ambulance company was notified and began tracking the rig, he said.
The ambulance was stopped less than 15 minutes later on the Garden State Parkway near Exit 157 in Elmwood Park, a little over seven miles from the hospital, Cureton said.
State Police turned him over to the Bergen County Sheriff's Office, which has jurisdiction for incidents at the not-for-profit facility operated by Care Plus Bergen, Inc.
Sheriff's officers charged him with theft.
Local police had received an unconfirmed 911 call of Wyres being assaulted by two men on the Parkway before he was arrested. It was initially unclear who they were or what might have prompted the purported confrontation. Authorities were investigating.
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