Teen Crashes Jeep While Being Chased By Police For Hit-And-Run On Palmetto Expressway
A teen driver has been arrested by the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) in connection to several hit-and-run crashes that happened along the Palmetto Expressway on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 13th.
According to a report filed by CBS Local in Miami, a spokesperson for the FHP said that Robert Lee Harden, 19, slammed his Jeep into a vehicle while being pursued by officers for his role in connection with another hit-and-run on the Palmetto.
The female driver, Isabel Montoya, was stopped at the intersection of Flagler and SW 69th Avenue in Miami and was on her way home when Harden’s Jeep struck her vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed.
Harden crashed his vehicle into a utility pole a short distance away from where FHP officers caught up to him and placed him under arrest.
“All you could hear where the sirens, and when I went to look to see where the sirens were coming from, he was going, I don’t know, it seemed like 100 miles per hour,” Montoya told CBS reporters.
Montoya described the crash as unavoidable and felt as if the collision with the Jeep caused her car to spin around two or three times before Harden drove off with police in pursuit.
In the aftermath of the crash, Montoya was left with an injured leg but is expected to be OK and she considers herself to be lucky.
According to a later report filed by CBS in Miami, Harden was booked into jail and is now facing multiple charges. Those charges include reckless driving, evading law enforcement, and leaving the scene of an injury accident.