High Speed Chase Injures Officers
Several police officers were injured in a high-speed chase through the streets of Miami on Friday afternoon.
According to the Miami Police Department, at approximately 2:00 p.m. a Miami police sergeant spotted a red Nissan Altima that the Lauderhill Police Department had been looking for the previous evening.
Lauderhill police had been on the lookout for Keith Michel, 34, who had allegedly stabbed his girlfriend several times at their home on Thursday night before taking off in her Altima.
The Miami sergeant attempted to pull Michel over in a traffic stop. However, Michel hit the gas instead the chase began at W 7th Ave. and 13th St.
In the attempt to elude police, the red vehicle would speed up as it moved through intersections, take side streets and nearly hit several other vehicles during the chase.
According to Miami Police Chief Rodolfo Llanes at one point, the MPD had a convoy of as many as six cruisers in pursuit of Michel. Two officers were injured when their cruiser was struck by the Altima.
The vehicle finally crashed near 119th St. and 11th Ave. at around 1:50 p.m.
Police swarmed the vehicle but Michel attempted to escape by putting the vehicle into reverse. K9 officers were deployed in an attempt to apprehend the driver.
Michel ceased trying to reverse his vehicle and at least 12 law enforcement officers ordered him out of the vehicle and onto the ground. He arrested and taken into custody.
The two injured officers and Buster the K9 officer are all expected to be OK.
Court records indicate that Michel has a criminal history stretching to 2005 and serving prison time for such crimes as grand theft to robbery and battery.
Michel’s girlfriend, who has not been named, is still recovering from the attack.
Michel has been charged with attempted murder, evading police and other charges may be pending. He has been booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami-Dade.
Being in an accident that happens as the result of a high-speed police chase can happen at any time and more often than you might think. When a criminal is attempting to elude or to escape and the police are in pursuit, the safety of others isn’t a consideration. That’s when people get hurt by being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in an accident as a direct result of a police chase in the Miami-Dade area, contact us today with the details of your case.
Our attorneys are highly experienced in accident cases and can prepare your case to get you the most in compensation or losses from accidents that were no fault of your own.
Expenses such as medical expenses, funeral costs, loss of income, or potential increase in insurance rates can affect you long after the accident. Our lawyers are focused on accident cases such as this and have argued thousands of them in Houston area courts. We can help you. Give us a call at the number on your screen.