A New Jersey man is behind bars after he allegedly stole an ambulance from Williamsport early Monday morning, according to state police.

However, before he was taken into custody, New Jersey resident Marcus Stapleton drove the ambulance into the front of a city convenience store, slammed it into a stopped state cruiser with two troopers in the vehicle outside Montoursville and then drove it a short distance before fleeing on foot after crashing the ambulance yet a third time on Fairfield Road, it was alleged.

Stapleton, 35, faces several felony and misdemeanor charges following the incident that began when he stole the ambulance while it was parked outside its station on Almond Street in the city’s East End, police said, adding that a set of keys were in the vehicle.

Stapleton, who has an extensive criminal history dating back nearly 20 years, drove to the Turkey Hill store at 700 Washington Blvd. about 4:15 a.m., police said.

“Stapleton entered the store and told the clerk he had a body in the back of the ambulance and needed directions to Route 87. The clerk provided directions, and then called 911 after Stapleton left the store,” it was stated in an affidavit.

The clerk had noticed blood on his clothes and his skin, police said.

A few minutes later, Stapleton pulled into the front of the store, got out and again asked for directions, police said, adding he appeared to be “in a panic.”

After returning to the ambulance, “he drove the vehicle into the front of the store, pushing in the front wall of the building,” the affidavit stated.

The crash and Stapleton’s conversations with the clerk were recorded on a surveillance camera, police said.

Soon after Stapleton fled the store a second time, both city police and the hospital “determined that an ambulance had been stolen from the Almond Street station,” a former firehouse, the affidavit stated.

The hospital, using a “computer program to track and ascertain the ambulance’s location, determined that it was being driven on Lycoming Mall Drive in Fairfield Township,” police said.

State troopers and Montoursville police responded at once to the area to look for the ambulance.

Two troopers riding together in a cruiser saw the ambulance coming towards them as they were traveling east in the 4900 block of Lycoming Mall Drive about 4:40 a.m., the affidavit stated.

“The troopers activated the marked cruiser’s emergency lights and stopped in the westbound lane. Stapleton failed to stop and drove the ambulance into the front of the cruiser,” police said. Neither trooper was hurt, police added.

Following the collision, “Stapleton continued west on Lycoming Mall Drive and then north on Fairfield Road, where he traveled off the east side of the roadway and crashed,” police said in the court document.

Stapleton bailed out of the ambulance and ran toward Choate Circle and hid, police said. Using an unlocked exterior door, he entered Alberts Spray Solutions about 5:30 a.m. However he was soon taken into custody inside the building after a company employee reported seeing him walking in the parking lot minutes earlier, police said.

This was the second encounter state police had with Stapleton in a matter of hours. Shortly after 1 a.m., they were dispatched to a home in the 7200 block of Route 87 in Plunketts Creek Township to assist an ambulance crew “with an intoxicated person who required medical assistance,” court records stated.

It was Stapleton, and he had “cut his hand with a broken bottle,” police said. It was reportedly the home of a woman, who Stapleton said was “his wife,” police said.

Stapleton, of Essex County, New Jersey, was taken to UPMC Williamsport, treated for the hand injury and released, police said.

Investigators suspect that after leaving the hospital, he made his way to Almond Street, saw the parked ambulance and allegedly took off with it.

Stapleton was arraigned before District Judge Gary Whiteman on felony charges of aggravated assault, fleeing police, theft, receiving stolen property, criminal mischief, criminal trespassing and three misdemeanors, including two counts of accidents involving damage to attended vehicle or property (hit-run) plus recklessly endangering.

“I don’t want no bail,” he told the judge. He told Whiteman he just got out of jail. During the proceedings, a trooper told the judge that Stapleton had a long criminal history, including two separate cases this year in New Jersey, charging him with assault on law enforcement. Stapleton was committed to the Lycoming County Prison on no bail.