NORTH MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A 31-year-old man appeared in bond court Friday after driving a stolen fire rescue truck through Miami-Dade and Broward counties until his arrest in Palm Beach County, police said.
Detectives identified the troubled man who dared to steal the fire rescue truck in North Miami Beach — after finding an opportunity during a fire rescue training exercise — as Aljenard Lekambrick Hanna, police said.
After the swift heist at fire station 32, at 358 NE 168 St., surveillance video shows Hanna driving northbound on Interstate 95, just as commuters were stuck in traffic, police said.
While speeding through the streets of northern Miami-Dade, Lekambrick crashed into a parked Opa-locka Police Department cruiser, but it was empty, so no one was injured, according to police.
Police scanner chatter audio indicated unmarked undercover officers joined the pursuit that lasted for about an hour and ended along the northbound lanes of the Florida Turnpike.
The Florida Highway Patrol was also among the agencies involved. The frantic pursuit ended on the Turnpike. A witness recorded a video of Hanna’s arrest north of the Boynton Beach exit.
Local 10 News went to Hanna’s northwest Miami-Dade home to learn more about what would prompt him to allegedly steal the vehicle when a woman living there charged at a Local 10 News photographer.
Another relative told Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos that Hanna suffers from a mental disorder, which likely led him to commit the crime.
“What I have to say is focus on mental health. I don’t know what that was, but I know he is under mental duress,” she said.
Records show Hanna was in the custody of the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office on Friday morning after corrections officers booked him shortly before 2:40 a.m., and he was facing a charge of grand theft of emergency medical equipment, which carries a $25,000 bond.
While in court, Hanna was hea
BACK IN COURT…MORE FROM HANNA…GETTING SNIPPY WITH THE JUDGE.
BOND 2.1 :34 “Where do you expect me to get $2500 bucks from? I don’t know. You don’t care or you don’t know? I said I don’t know.”
Court records show that Hanna’s criminal history has dated back to 2010 with previous charges that include burglary, fleeing and eluding and domestic violence.
According to jail records, Hanna has yet to post bond and remained in jail as of 6:30 p.m. Friday.
Detectives were asking anyone with information about the case to call Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers at 305-471-8477.
Watch the early Friday morning report
Watch the Thursday late-night report