A vehicle theft suspect tried to escape police officers Thursday afternoon in Miami Dade County, southeastern Florida by hanging from an overpass as a police car chase ended, video shows.
The suspect crept out of the back of a U-Haul van and onto the parapet of the overpass from where he appeared ready to jump but for a quick-thinking officer who grabbed his hand, aerial video, taken by WPLG Local 10 shows. Other officers could be seen joining in and trying to pull the suspect back up. In the struggle, the suspect’s shirt came off but the suspect still appeared intent on wresting himself free of the officers’ grasp. The officers hauled him up and took him and two other fellow occupants of the van into custody, the video shows.
Officers had to stop the van by executing a PIT maneuver on the van and also used a K-9 to facilitate the arrests, the video showed. They previously had shot out the tires but the driver kept fleeing, at up to 100 mph at some point, WPLG reported. (RELATED: Watch This Officer Perfectly Throw Spike Strip On Highway To Shred Tires Of Woman Taking Police On Wild Chase)
The suspect and the two other alleged accomplices allegedly had stolen the van and were using it to convey goods they had stolen from a Kohl’s store in Homestead, WSVN 7 News reported. When officers tried to apprehend them, they reportedly rammed a police car with an officer inside and broke away, initiating the police car chase.
The officer whose patrol car was hit was one of those who hauled up the suspect over the ledge of the overpass, WSVN 7 News reported.
The three suspects were two men and one woman, according toWSVN 7 News.