Neighbors say EMTs fought, drove through yards, damaging property

GWINNETT COUNTY — Neighbors are bewildered and angry after an alleged fight between two EMTs left their yards ruined and property damaged.

They tell Channel 2's Richard Elliot that the two workers from a private ambulance company dropped off a patient on Wednesday in a Duluth neighborhood but then started fighting in the front yard of a home.

[911 calls of EMT fight released: 'This is crazy!']

The fight escalated, and neighbors say one of the employees pulled a knife on the other. One jumped into the ambulance and drove away with the other hanging onto the back of the vehicle, neighbors said.

Police say Kyle Lathon was the man who drove away in the ambulance.

Elliot reports the ambulance tore through five front yards, smashing down mailboxes, damaging electrical boxes and knocking down resident Eric Nabeth's tree.

Nabeth showed Elliot a bag full of ambulance wreckage.

"So here are the pieces the ambulance left behind. This is a piece of its mirror," Nabeth said.

Resident James Perry says he saw the other employee hanging onto the back of the ambulance.

"Came outside and saw a yellow-colored ambulance going down the roadway with a gentleman hanging off the back saying, 'Help me! Call 911,'" Perry said.

Perry says the man eventually jumped off.

Police arrested Lathon and charged him with reckless conduct along with five counts of hit-and-run.

An insurance adjuster was already in the neighborhood tallying up the damage cost.

Perry says he never thought he'd ever see anything like this in his quiet neighborhood.

Med Care EMS says they couldn't comment on the incident outside of saying this kind of behavior will not be tolerated.

Cox Media Group