MIAMI – A man who escaped from a Miami hospital while in custody Monday afternoon is still on the run from police. His family is urging him to turn himself in, but in a FaceTime video shared exclusively with Local 10 News, he tells relatives he’s “in fear for my life” after an apparent rough arrest Sunday.
Miami police say that Leskeil Richards, 25, found the right moment to run away from an officer who was guarding him at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Richards was injured during an arrest that was captured on video Sunday, with his family saying he suffered a seizure.
Richards’ family shared the FaceTime video conversation from overnight exclusively with Local 10.
“Yeah I understand that you’re scared, but I need you to turn yourself in ‘Skeil,” a family member told him in the video.
“They’re killing too many black people, they’re killing people for no reason,” Richards said on the FaceTime call, to which a family member responded: “But you have to turn yourself in.”
The video call was made early Tuesday morning by Richards to his family, from a number they didn’t recognize.
The now viral video from Sunday showed Richards being punched and put in a headlock while being arrested by a City of Miami police officer in the Liberty City neighborhood, near Northwest 62nd Street and 17th Avenue.
Richards, who lives in Sunrise, was a passenger without a seatbelt, police say. His sister Iesha was behind the wheel and ticketed for not making a complete stop at a stop sign. Only after the struggle caught on camera did police learn that Richards had an outstanding warrant out of Broward County for violating his probation.
“I got stuff all on my face, bruises all on my body,” Richards told family on the FaceTime call. “I caught seizures and I don’t even catch seizures. I’m in fear for my life.”
We’ve learned one of the officers facing scrutiny from that arrest is Mario Sevilla, a six-year veteran who has had at least half a dozen use-of-force instances on his record.
A source within the department tells Local 10 News that Sevilla was just involved in a fatal shooting two weeks ago when bullets fired by police killed a robbery suspect in a trailer park.
It’s unclear how Sevilla was allowed to be back on the street so soon for that violent altercation Sunday, as well as a chance encounter Monday with Richards at the hospital.
“Today the same officer that beat me up came and got me to take me to jail and I [don’t want to] ride with him,” Richards told his family on the FaceTime call.
Richards’ escape Monday sparked a massive search, spanning several hours.
Thus far, officers have come up empty-handed trying to locate him.
During his conversation with family overnight, Richards never mentioned his exact location and could be seen with what appeared to be a wound on his forehead.
“Let me see your head? Let me see your head? Oh my god!” a family member said to him.
Richards repeatedly told his family he wants to turn himself in, but that he fears for his safety after what happened Sunday.
“That’s the reason why I did what I did,” he said on the FaceTime call. “I know they were going to kill me. I couldn’t lose my life for something I didn’t do.”
The Miami Police Department is launching an internal investigation into the arrest.
Authorities say that if you see Richards, do not approach him, but call 911.