Rochester, New York - "In my 15 years at the police department, I've never heard of anything quite of this nature," said Utica's Sargent Michael Curley of one of the most outrageous car chases on record.

It could have been a scene from a movie: A stolen ambulance traveled over 100 miles and inexplicably ended up submerged in a bay in upstate New York on Sunday.

According to police, the driver stole the emergency vehicle in the morning in the city of Utica. She gained access while the ambulances were being cleaned and the garages were left open, providing easy access.

The daring driver then fled on a highway heading west.

After the vehicle was quickly reported missing, officers used a GPS tracking device to locate the ambulance and follow it.

Several attempts to stop the woman failed as she fled for 137 miles with both state troopers and unmarked patrol cars trailing her.

The chase finally ended at Irondequoit Bay, just outside the city of Rochester, where the ambulance broke through the barriers of a yacht club and drove directly into the water.

As the ambulance sunk into the water, the woman said she was drowning and called for help. She was rescued by nearby boats, an eyewitness told local news affiliate CNY Central.

Police later recovered the vehicle by tow truck and arrested her at the scene.

The suspect has now been identified as 32-year-old Vanessa Armstead. She’s been charged by both state police and local police with criminal possession of stolen property, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, burglary, and grand larceny.

Police are still unsure as to Armstead's reasons for stealing the ambulance, but they've confirmed she was in a car accident just before on Saturday. She was treated for injuries at a Utica hospital afterwards and then released.

It is unclear whether the incidents are related.