MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A South Florida man is facing multiple felony charges after a wild police chase involving a Corvette that began with a state trooper’s attempt to make a traffic stop, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
According to FHP, after almost hitting a trooper, Jonathan Joel Asqueri, 27, of North Miami Beach, wrecked the sports car — but that did not stop him from driving, albeit in an unorthodox fashion reminiscent of a well-known Jim Carrey character.
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It all started Sunday morning at around 10:15 a.m. on the Dolphin Expressway near Northwest 57th Avenue, near the Miami International Airport, authorities said.
An FHP motorman saw Asqueri speeding and driving recklessly, “crossing multiple lanes at once, cutting vehicles off, tailing, and using the shoulder to pass in an attempt to out run another vehicle” in the black Corvette, the trooper wrote in an an arrest report.
The report states that the trooper was unable to pursue him, but after getting onto Florida’s Turnpike and exiting onto Kendall Drive, he spotted Asqueri’s black Corvette next to a red one in the left turn lanes.
The trooper said he then blocked in Asqueri with his Harley-Davidson, turned on his lights and dismounted his bike.
“As I began to walk towards the driver of the vehicle, the vehicle lunged forward towards me, side-swiping the puttee on my left leg,” the trooper wrote. “I immediately jumped out (of) the path of the vehicle to avoid a catastrophic injury.”
The report states the trooper then pulled out his gun and struck the driver’s side window, ordering Asqueri to stop the vehicle and step out with his hands up.
He did not, according to FHP. Instead, Asqueri “aggressively reversed and swerved around my motorcycle striking the curb, ran the red light and fled east,” on Kendall Drive, the trooper wrote.
Along came a crash. The trooper wrote that Asqueri rear-ended an SUV, then “recklessly reversed towards my motorcycle as I approached the scene,” taking off once again, fleeing east on Kendall drive, even passing a marked Miami-Dade police cruiser.
Then, in what can perhaps best be described as a move channeling Jim Carrey’s eponymous character in the movie “Ace Ventura: Pet Detective” — coincidentally, set in Miami — the trooper wrote that Asqueri, having made a U-turn, “drove hanging out of the driver window due the heavy front damage and hood blocking the windshield.”
Miami-Dade police would later join the pursuit and after a series of turns, troopers found the Corvette abandoned at My Kid Therapy Center, located at 14425 Country Walk Drive, the report states.
Troopers said they found the heavily-damaged sports car with its airbags deployed, plus two sets of keys and a bottle of Motrin inside.
They said after running the Corvette’s registration, they were able to contact Asqueri’s mother and negotiate his surrender.
Authorities arrested him at a home in Miami Gardens early Monday morning.
A judge found probable cause to charge Asqueri with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, fleeing and eluding police after an accident, fleeing and eluding police at high speed, resisting without violence, leaving the scene of an accident involving property damage and reckless driving.
According to jail records, he was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a $17,500 bond as of Tuesday afternoon.