MIAMI – New video obtained by Local 10 News shows the moments before Miami police rescued a woman Thursday morning who they said got naked and jumped into the water with her 3-year-old nephew to avoid being arrested.
Miami police later released body camera footage of the incident.
It all happened in the city’s Brickell neighborhood at around 8:30 a.m.
That’s when police said they were initially called to the 400 block of Brickell Avenue after receiving a report of a vandalized flood light on the Baywalk.
Police said Natalia Marina, 27, who was with her sister and nephew, destroyed a total of 14 lights at the park.
Marina, a Ukrainian national who lives on the streets of Miami, is facing several criminal charges, including child abuse with no great bodily harm. According to her arrest report, she went under the water several times with her young nephew.
Police said the three jumped down a sea wall in an attempt to escape officers, but Marina took the escape attempt to another level, stripping nude and jumping in the water with her nephew as an officer tried to chase them.
“It’s just disturbing, you see this child which entrusts his aunt to take care of him,” Miami police Capt. Freddie Cruz said Thursday. “She actually threw him in the water with her.”
Cruz also said Marina underwent a mental health evaluation.
“I guess the determination was that she was in a normal state of mind, that she was OK to face charges,” he said.
Marina appeared in Miami-Dade bond court Friday, where she was given a $5,000 bond and ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Authorities said the child was handed over to the Florida Department of Children and Families.