SHELBY, N.C. --

An ambulance, police and sirens are not an unusual combination, but in Shelby late Monday police chased the ambulance, and officers said the man at the wheel was a patient.

Troopers said Patrick Hunt told them he stole the ambulance because "it was God's will."

He was in the emergency room at Cleveland Regional Medical Center Monday night. Police said he went outside and got behind the wheel of an ambulance. Lena Glenn said the chase passed right by her house.

"The problem is Gum Street is only a block long," she said.

Somehow Hunt managed to drive to the end of the street, turn around and continue the chase, police said. Glenn said she wasn't aware the ambulance was stolen.

"I think it's terrible that anybody would steal an ambulance," she said.

Troopers said Hunt nearly hit a group of people at Ramblewood Apartments. He then stopped to wave to some pedestrians across the street. A trooper became worried and pulled his cruiser in front of the ambulance. The trooper said Hunt hit his cruiser and keep going.

Officers used stop sticks to flatten the ambulance's tires about a half hour after the chase started.

Hunt has been in the news before. He made a strange call to 911 in September of last year. He told police someone stole five pounds of marijuana from his home. He was arrested then for repeated 911 calls.

After chasing down an ambulance that came so close to harming people, and adding up the numerous times that police and emergency officials have been tied up in calls with Hunt, troopers said they are now starting to wonder if more shouldn't be done to keep Hunt in custody.