An Australian family Friday spoke of their shock after a man jumped out of bushes and drove off in a hearse carrying the body of a relative just before his funeral.
Hayley West and husband Tobias Richardson were preparing for the funeral service of her brother-in-law Seth at a school building in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney on Thursday morning when the alleged carjacker made his move.
�Just as we were talking in the foyer and one of the funeral directors was getting the trolley to put the coffin on, a guy jumped out of the bushes and jumped into the hearse and started it up,� West told ABC radio.
�The funeral home guy was banging on the window, saying �What are you doing? You can�t drive away in a hearse�.
�We are all standing around, going �Oh my God, the hearse has been stolen�.�
Richardson jumped into his own car to pursue the thief as West called police and an aghast crowd watched the chase unfold.
The hearse drove into the grounds of a school, with Richardson using his car to block it from being driven any further, West and New South Wales police said.
�Tobias jumped out and said, �What the hell are you doing?�,� West said. �The guy meekly said, �I need to go to hospital.'�
NSW police officers arrived five minutes later to take the 49-year-old man away, adding that he had dementia and had gone missing from a nursing home earlier Thursday.
�The missing 49-year-old man was detained at the scene and taken to hospital for assessment,� police said in a statement.
�It is anticipated that no further police action will be taken regarding the incident.�
West said the funeral service carried on as planned after the hearse was returned, and that Seth Richardson would have seen the funny side of the incident.
�He would have thought it was hilarious.�
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