MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Andrew Sackmann’s dashcam video shows how his maneuver to stop a drunk driver who was in a stolen Nissan sports utility vehicle caused a crash on Interstate 395, better known as MacArthur Causeway.
The video shows Sackmann following the Nissan eastbound, away from Miami and toward South Beach, at about 2:45 a.m., on March 25, during the spring break havoc that prompted the assignment of more FHP troopers in the causeways leading to Miami Beach.
Sackmann ordered the driver to stop the SUV, which troopers later learned had been reported stolen out of New York. They also later learned the driver was Kevin Palma Molina, also known as Palmamolina, Palma-Molina, or Kevin Barme, who has a criminal history in New York and lives in Cutler Bay.
“I believed he was under the influence of alcohol and or a drug to the extent his normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate a motor vehicle,” Sackmann wrote in the arrest report.
The video shows Sackmann pulling up alongside the SUV and steering sharply into the side of it as if targetting the driver’s side rear tires, which then caused the SUV to skid in front of him. The video doesn’t show when the SUV hit the guardrail, went airborne, and into oncoming eastbound traffic — before crashing into a barrier wall to come to a full stop.
Sackmann, who is a training instructor, served as a member of the quick response force, and as a field training officer. The video shows he performed the Precision Immobilization Technique, also known as Pursuit Intervention Technique, or Precision Intervention Tactic.
According to Lt. Alex Camacho, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, the crash was an unintended consequence of the PIT maneuver. The common tactic is mostly used during police pursuits because it prompts the fleeing car to abruptly turn 180 degrees — forcing the driver to stop.
After Palma Molina crashed the stolen SUV, the video shows a 26-year-old woman who was a passenger saying her leg hurt. FHP troopers found empty alcohol bottles inside, and Palma Molina failed a sobriety test near the wreckage. A Miami-Dade police officer performed the breath test, according to the arrest form.
Sackmann reported he took Palma Molina to Jackson West Medical Center in Doral for medical clearance, and later to jail accusing him of fleeing and eluding police, driving under the influence, DUI damage to property or person, driving without a valid driver’s license, and grand theft of a motor vehicle.
Court records show Miami-Dade prosecutors filed a case against Palma Molina on March 26 for a third-degree felony to flee from or elude a police officer, and corrections officers released him on a $5,000 bond. His arraignment is scheduled at 9 a.m., on April 24.
Court records show Assistant Public Defender Jessica Ashley Grobman-Morales was representing Palma Molina and Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Daryl E. Trawick is presiding over the case.
According to Camacho, two other FHP troopers were involved in the traffic stop.