FLORIDA CITY, Fla. – A Florida City homeowner said she’s grateful she was not home when police said a 17-year-old driver slammed into an apartment building in a rollover crash that left him dead Thursday afternoon.
Miami-Dade police units had arrived at the scene of a rollover crash sometime after 3 p.m. in the River Oaks townhome community, near Southwest 336th Street and 180th Avenue.
An officer with MDPD Robbery Intervention Detail (RID) was at a nearby gas station and approached the driver, identified as Brandon Madison, about a traffic infraction, according to investigators.
Police said as detectives approached Madison, he slammed the door of the black Mercedes-Benz, catching an officer’s hand in the door before fleeing the scene. Another officer from RID tried to stop the vehicle. When Madison made a U-turn, he lost control of the car, driving on the grass outside of a home. The car then rolled over several times before slamming into the wall of the home, according to police.
Madison was pronounced dead at the scene.
Madison was a senior at Miramar High School and friends close with his family told Local 10 News that he was a good kid.
Local 10 News cameras captured Krystal Holmes on Friday as she surveyed the damage to her home, located along the 500 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue.
I just thank God,” Holmes said. “It could’ve been worse.”
Holmes said she was thankful that she wasn’t there and no one else was injured as the vehicle was seen mangled and left upside down.
“The car had hit the apartment and made it halfway into the apartment,” she said.
“It was totaled (and) it had the yellow tarp,” added Holmes. “It’s an unfortunate incident and I am sorry that a life had to be lost during this.”
As the vehicle tumbled through the air, police said a gun equipped with a high-capacity magazine flew out the window and bullets fell out everywhere.
“What’s important is that you have a 17-year-old who lost their life,” Miami-Dade Police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta said at a press conference. “You have a 17-year-old, for whatever the reason why he was fleeing, he put himself and other people in danger.”
Sky 10 was over the scene and captured video of an officer standing guard near a handgun that was located about half a block away from the home.
“It was determined that the firearm was ejected from the subject vehicle as it rolled over during the crash,” Zabaleta said in a news release.
Zabaleta also said the gun that was recovered by police was reported stolen out of northeast Miami-Dade.
Investigators also revealed that the black Mercedes that the suspect was driving was registered to a rental car company.
“You know material things can be replaced, but had I been in the residence, had I not decided to leave, I would’ve been in the residence when this incident occurred,” Holmes said.
Holmes told Local 10 News that she will stay with relatives on Friday night while the repairs are being made to her home.