Police say Kyle Lathon, 22, took control of the ambulance from his crew partner and pulled a knife on him before the damaging drive.

Shortly before 7 p.m. Wednesday, police responded to a suspicious vehicle call on Cambridge Park Court. Several residents said an ambulance was speeding through the subdivision and knocking down mailboxes.

Officers talked with a man who had a large laceration on his leg, which he said he got after jumping off the back of a moving ambulance, police spokesman Cpl. Deon Washington said.

The man, who originally was driving the ambulance that belonged to private company Med Care EMS Transport, said he and Lathon worked for a Buford company and had been arguing all day, Washington said. The men went to the subdivision to pick up a person and realized they had left their wheelchair at the hospital. That caused additional tension, the man told police.

The former small, aging station was replaced by a brand new, nearly 11,000 square foot fire house that includes a dive rescue team.

The uncoupling of the hose marked the station’s return to service.

One of former fire chief Harlan Vincent's last projects before his retirement was to transform the station into a more spacious and efficient operation to protect the canyon with its narrow point of access and hundreds of homes and rental lodgings constructed along both sides of the Rio Ruidoso and into the forest leading off Main Road.

Village Manager Debi Lee said the project came in under budget and within the planned time-frame.

"It's beautiful," she told village councilors at their meeting Tuesday. "That was one of Harlan's last activities, bringing in that project under budget and within the time frame allocated. We're having a grand opening and I want to make sure when you will be taking vacations to find a date on which everyone can attend.

The canyon is considered the historical core of the original tourist lodging and homes of the families who came to stay each summer before Ruidoso was incorporated as a village in 1945. The heavily forested canyon with the Rio Ruidoso running through it remains a favorite place to stay in the summer, especially with those coming from flat, dry land. But the forest also presents a constant threat of wildfires.

Customers and workers were orderly evacuated from the business and no one was injured. Firefighters later determined that a belt on a heating and air conditioning unit was the cause of smoke.

As the engine left the station, it traveled north on Henry St. to Fourth St. and then east on Fourth St. As the fire engine — with lights and siren operating — traveled through the West Ave. intersection a black Hyundai passenger car also entered the intersection, resulting in the broadside crash.

The impact sent the car spinning and backwards into the Nail Society front door. The car came to rest on top of the front steps to the Fourth St. business and on top of a fire hydrant. The business was closed and no one was inside.