A man being taken to a Far Northwest Side hospital died after he jumped out of the ambulance that was carrying him there, authorities said.



Ramiro Reynoso, 20, appeared to be incoherent when someone saw him seated in a running vehicle parked near Mannheim and Irving Park roads about 5:30 a.m. and called for help, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.



Reynoso was placed in an ambulance, but during the trip to Resurrection Medical Center, 7435 W. Talcott Ave., he jumped out and into the street in the 5900 block of North Oriole Avenue, causing him to suffer major head trauma, according to the medical examiner's office.



Reynoso, of the 4400 block of North Kedzie Avenue, was pronounced dead at 6:40 a.m. at Resurrection, according to the medical examiner's office.



The man was strapped in a gurney being treated when he told the medics, one of whom was treating him in the back of the ambulance and the other of whom was driving, that he wanted to vomit, said to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford, who was citing preliminary information.



"So they would have handed him the vessel and unbuckled the top strap as he sat up in order to deal with it,'' Langford said.



But somehow he also got the leg straps off, opened the back door of the ambulance, and jumped out, according to Langford.



The straps are not designed to keep someone "captive,'' Langford said. "It's not something you can't take off yourself. They are there for the patient's own safety,'' Langford said of the straps.



The fire department and police continue to investigate the incident, said Langford.



"At any rate, this is a tragedy. We don't like to lose patients for any reason whether it's their actions or anyone else's,'' Langford said.



"Our sympathies go out to his family.''



rsobol@tribune.com



Twitter: @RosemarySobol1