Purse, cellphone stolen from EMT trying to save woman's life

DETROIT (WJBK) - An EMS worker was robbed while responding to a person in need. 

Her purse and cell phone stolen right out of the ambulance.

"It's very disheartening, it's ugly - and it's hurtful," said Charlene Kinnard, a Detroit EMT.

Just how low can you go? Two thieves were caught on camera after stealing from a Detroit EMT while she had been trying to save an elderly woman's life.

"You inconvenienced me for two packs of cigarettes?" said Kinnard.

Kinnard says at about 11:30 p.m. Monday she and her partner got a call for an elderly woman having trouble breathing. Lights and sirens blaring as they arrived, the two rushed over to a home on Nardin Park on the city's west side.

"She was obviously having trouble so we had to get her going quickly, we could not have been inside more than 6, 7 or maybe 8 minutes," she said.

Getting the elderly woman to the hospital, Kinnard soon realized her department-issued phone was missing.  Kinnard drove back to Nardin Park, thinking she may have dropped it.

But then she realized her purse was also missing. Her credit card company then alerted her that someone used her card at a Valero gas station on Linwood, which is a Project Green Light gas station.

"The male met up with a black female, we don't know if they came together," said Capt. Darrell Patterson, Detroit police. "Or if they met up at a gas station. But the EMT's credit card was transferred to the female."

HD cameras captured the couple on film as the woman was seen walking in.
 
"My name is on the card," Kinnard said. "She knows that's not his name. The girl was like okay, went and swiped It. Like what's wrong with you?"

The woman's purchase was two packs of cigarettes and a snack.

"You are stupid; you are going to risk your freedom for two packs of cigarettes?" Kinnard said. "Had it been some milk or eggs or something inside the gas station, it would make think maybe it was a kid, or someone who was hungry. I would be still mad but I can understand it a little bit better. But you bought cigarettes."

Kinnard was forced to change the locks in her home and cancel her credit cards. But she's more frustrated with other things she can't replace.

"A picture of my son that was in my wallet I can't get back," she said. "There's a little stone that my friend gave me, she prayed over it, it says serenity on it."

She hopes someone out there recognizes the low-lifes. While Detroit police say it is developing strong leads based on the clear video.
 
"Nothing surprises me anymore," Patterson said. "It is just a terrible thing that somebody would do something like that to someone who is trying to help someone."