Homeless man stole ambulance and drove to strip club

A homeless man stole an ambulance in Michigan and took off towards a strip club before police stopped the van and arrested him.

The keys were still in the ignition when 51-year-old Bryan Kryscio, a homeless man with mental issues, came across the unlocked ambulance outside McLaren Oakland Hospital in Pontiac late on Sunday night.

Two paramedics left their emergency vehicle unlocked when they rushed a patient into the hospital's emergency department, The Oakland Press reports.

"They came back outside and their rig was gone," Undersheriff Michael McCabe told the newspaper.

Police were called and they tracked the ambulance using one of paramedic's phones that was left in the vehicle.

The vehicle was already more than 20km away when police managed to track it down and stop the driver.

The ambulance was travelling less than 10km/h when police pulled their patrol car in front of the van to stop it.

"They asked him what was going on and he said 'I'm going to the Booby Trap to see a dancer,'" McCabe said.

The Booby Trap was a topless bar on Detroit's Eight Mile Road that is now closed.

Mr Kryscio, a homeless man "known to have some mental health issues", was charged with motor vehicle theft and will appear in court next month.