MIAMI, Fla. – Police have identified the woman who led police on a chase from Broward County to Miami-Dade and they now know why she took off. She was already wearing a police-issued tracking ankle monitor from being arrested of a previous crime and was out on pre-trial release.
They also said that she had her 9-year-old son in the back seat during the ordeal.
Kierra Sanquaniese Johnson, 29, of Fort Lauderdale was wanted for a series of robberies, the last of which was robbing a 68-year-old woman of her purse at the Citibank on Aventura Boulevard.
The victim said she pulled into the bank around 1:50 p.m. on Wednesday, where she parked her vehicle into a handicapped parking space on the southwest corner of the parking lot. Johnson’s black Nissan sedan was backed into the space next to the handicapped spot.
The woman said as she was exiting her car, Johnson pushed her back inside her car. Once inside, Johnson reached across the woman’s body to grab a purse on that was on the passenger seat, took it, then returned to her car and fled.
(See the Dashcam chase video below)
A Citibank security guard was sitting in his car nearby and although he didn’t see the incident, he was able to see Johnson getting back into her car, leaving the scene and captured the number of the Nissan license plate.
After Aventura police put out a “be on the lookout” call for the car, Hollywood police located Johnson and the Nissan after she committed several other crimes. When they tried to stop her, she sped away. The pursuit started on I-95 and Sheridan Street. An officer used a tactical maneuver to stop the car during the chase. Johnson’s car came to a stop after crashing on the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 near 151st Street. Traffic was shutdown about 3:20 p.m.
No one was injured in the crash. Johnson’s 9-year-old son was taken from the back seat of the car after the chase ended.
Johnson was already wearing a GPS ankle monitor issued by police for a previous crime in which she was waiting for a hearing. The record check of the ankle monitor placed Johnson at the Aventura Citibank at the time of the strong-armed purse snatching.
She was charged on several counts including robbery by sudden snatching without a firearm or weapon, battery on a person 65 years or older, and neglect of a child without bodily harm.
She was booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami and is being held without bond.