MIAMI – An officer with the Miami Police Department was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital late Monday afternoon after being hit by a vehicle in the city’s Overtown neighborhood.
According to Miami Police Chief Manny Morales, Det. Marvalyn Lee Chin was working a detail when she was flagged down about an altercation.
She then went to the area of Northwest Second Avenue and 12th Street.
When Chin got out of her car, the offender struck her with their vehicle and pinned her against another car, Morales said.
Chin suffered severe injuries to her extremities and is in the hospital undergoing surgery, according to Morales.
Police confirmed that a 2019 photo on their X feed was of Chin, who won an Officer of the Month Award in December of 2018.
Chin is on the left in that photo, wearing all black.
For the month of December, we had two officers who worked together to solve a case involving thousands of dollars. Congratulations to Detective Marvalyn Lee Chin and Detective Darlene Jenkins for receiving the Officer of the Month Award! 👍 pic.twitter.com/UsQswfUrMk
— Miami PD (@MiamiPD) January 17, 2019
A person who claimed to have witnessed the crash said the officer was punched after she got out of her car.
The witness said the men quickly got into another vehicle and fled the scene, hitting the officer with that vehicle in the process. The crash appeared to be intentional, the witness told Local 10 News.
“While she was riding up, she jumped out, stopped him, asked him what he was doing,” the witness said. “He got very defensive. He hit her. I didn’t see what he hit her with. But the other man jumped out of his car and he ran around, jumped (into the car) and ran into the lady.”
Officer Kiara Delva, a MPD spokesperson, said officers were able to locate the driver and place him into custody and said that it appeared that “some sort of altercation” led to the crash.
“We have our officers, multiple officers on scene, as well as our chief of police there with her (at the hospital) comforting her, right there by her side,” Delva said. “Please keep our sister in blue in (your) prayers.”
Delva said investigators were canvassing the area for surveillance video and witnesses as of Monday evening.