MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Surveillance video released on Friday shows a fiery crash during a police chase in Miami.
The woman who crashed into an Uber driver and his passenger — while trying to get away from police officers on Thursday in Miami-Dade County — was a suspect in several burglaries in Miami, according to Detective Alvaro Zabaleta.
Undercover police officers reported identifying the stolen van she was driving near the intersection of Flagler Street and Northwest 42 Avenue. A police officer attempted a traffic stop, and when she refused to stop, a police helicopter joined the pursuit, according to Zabaleta, a spokesman for the Miami-Dade Police Department.
“The crime prevention unit of the Midwest District was working proactive detail, basically looking for criminal activity in the area of 42 Avenue to 40 Avenue around Flagler,” Zabaleta said. “It’s an area known to have criminal activity involving narcotics and therefore that’s why they were saturating the area in an undercover capacity.”
The crash was near the intersection of Flagler Street and Northwest 27 Avenue in Miami’s Little Havana. Zabaleta said the woman was driving southbound on the northbound lanes when she struck a four-door white vehicle — injuring a man who was working as an Uber driver and a woman who was his passenger.
“Those two patients were immediately transported to the hospital, the male in stable condition, the female in critical condition with multiple fractures,” said Lt. Pete Sanchez, a spokesman for Miami Fire Rescue.
After the fiery collision, the woman in the stolen van went on to crash into a wall and was trapped, according to Sanchez.
“It took about 10 minutes for our rescue crews to be able to extricate her and free her from the vehicle,” Sanchez said.
Miami Fire Rescue personnel took the woman to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. Sanchez said her condition was critical.
Police officers found drug paraphernalia inside what was left of the van, Zabaleta said.
“Our detectives were speaking with detectives from the city of Miami and we learned that they were looking for a vehicle that matched this description,” Zabaleta said, adding the woman is a suspect in several burglaries.