Preliminary hearing pending in EMS rig theft

SANDPOINT — A preliminary hearing is still pending in the curious case of Cody Wayne Mills, a Sagle man who commandeered a Bonner County EMS ambulance.

The hearing to determine if Mills should stand trial for operating a vehicle without the owner’s consent has been on hold because he is awaiting a neuro-psychiatric evaluation from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Spokane, Wash.

Mills’ preliminary hearing has been rescheduled four times. It’s now set for June 1. Mills is free on $10,000 bond while the case is pending.

A paramedic and EMTs were summoned to a home on Baldy Mountain on Dec. 13, 2010. Mills, a guest at the home, was reportedly having seizures.

Emergency workers, however, encountered an erratic and combative patient who had to be wrestled onto a gurney. Mills managed to slip out of his restraints went for the driver’s seat of the ambulance.

A deputy attempted to incapacitate Mills, 25, with a Tazer, but it had no discernible effect.

Mills immediately crashed the Ford ambulance and fled into the woods, but was apprehended about 40 minutes later. The rig sustained about $2,500 in damage, court documents said.

It was initially suspected that Mills was under the influence of a powerful narcotic such as PCP, but a drug test ruled out that suspicion. Mills, court records said, served tours in Afghanistan, but he insisted he was not suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder.