MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A robbery at a northwest Miami-Dade County gas station Thursday sparked a police chase that led to a deadly crash.
The fatal collision happened around 6 p.m. near the intersection of Northwest 30th Avenue and 54th Street.
“They were not trying to tell us anything at all — at all,” said a woman at the scene who identified herself as the daughter of the driver’s girlfriend. She wouldn’t tell us her name but says she found the man’s wallet at the crash site.
“It was just sitting plain on the ground and we found it as soon as we walked up. They didn’t try to find it at all.”
Miami-Dade police said the man driving the car was a suspected thief who allegedly tried to rob a woman earlier Thursday evening at a Chevron station near Northwest 30th Avenue and 58th Street.
“The subject was attempting to steal the victim’s purse. There was a struggle that ensued between the victim and the subject,” said Miami-Dade Police Officer Angel Rodriguez.
The robbery was reported at a Chevron gas station in the area of Northwest 30th Avenue and 58th Street.
Police said witnesses pointed out the suspect’s vehicle to officers, who began to pursue the car.
Officers eventually stopped their chase for safety reasons, but the suspect ended up crashing into a tree.
First responders had to ct the roof off of the car to pull out the driver, but despite live-saving efforts he did not survive.
Video from earlier in the evening showed the mangled car after it struck a tree off Northwest 58th Street.
Glass was shattered and scattered across the pavement from the impact.
The suspect’s loved ones told Local 10 News they’re confused by the circumstances surrounding the crash and believe police were chasing the wrong man.
“If they said they stopped pursuit, why is the back of the car damaged?” the girlfriend’s daughter asked. “The narrative they’re trying to paint on this man is not true. He’s a standup man.”
The woman declined to release the suspect’s name or her own.