MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Medics airlifted a person of interest in a Louisville, Kentucky homicide to a local trauma center after a police chase ended in a crash in northwest Miami-Dade Monday morning.
The chase ended at around 7:45 a.m. on Northwest 27th Avenue, just south of Northwest 119th Street, in the unincorporated Westview area
According to the Louisville Metro Police Department, the man officers were chasing was sought by authorities as a person of interest in a homicide and was driving the victim’s red Chevrolet Camaro.
A Louisville police spokesperson said the search came after authorities in that city found a man “obviously deceased from apparent injuries due to blunt force trauma” Sunday.
The Jefferson County, Kentucky coroner later identified the victim as Alain Garcia Perez, 45.
That spokesperson said it was still too early to label the driver a “suspect” in the case.
Detective Alvaro Zabaleta, a Miami-Dade Police Department police spokesperson, said his agency had been tipped off that the suspect, who hasn’t yet been publicly identified, was possibly in South Florida.
Undercover detectives searching the area spotted the vehicle, he said.
“They attempted to conduct a felony stop and once the vehicle came to a stop and the officer tried to approach the vehicle that’s when the subject decided to flee from the scene,” Zabaleta said.
Zabaleta said the wanted man struck a car but kept driving, then lost control near the Northwest 119th Street intersection, struck another vehicle and flipped the coupe over.
“He was trapped inside, fire rescue was able to extricate him out (and) airlift him to Ryder Trauma Center where he is listed in stable condition,” he said.
Police said the suspect struck a total of six vehicles.
Pearl Thomas was in one of those vehicles. She was driving her grandchildren to school at the time.
“All I know, I just got hit in the back,” Thomas said. “I’m in pain, but like I said, thank God for life.”
Once out of the hospital, the suspect is set to be extradited back to Kentucky.
Editor’s note: Louisville police later clarified that the driver was considered to be a person of interest, rather than a suspect, in the homicide.