HIALEAH, Fla. – Authorities arrested a convicted felon from northwest Miami-Dade after they said he sped away from police in a BMW with his niece and nephew inside, crashed and then left the two children behind in “excruciating pain” while trying to make a run for it.
It happened on Thursday at approximately 10:45 p.m. in Hialeah.
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According to police, a Miami-Dade detective working in the Robbery Intervention Detail in the northern part of the county saw the suspect, identified as Lerome Smith, driving erratically and without a seatbelt in a four-door BMW sedan.
Smith, 28, did not stop when the detective tried to pull him over, police said. Instead, they said he fled north on Northwest 27th Avenue from 62nd Street at a high rate of speed while weaving in and out of traffic, nearly causing several crashes.
A short time later, according to an arrest form, Smith lost control of the BMW and crashed into a fence and palm tree outside a home along the 5100 block of East Eighth Avenue.
He then got out of the car and tried running away, leading police to establish a perimeter in the area, officers said.
As police arrived to the crash scene, the two children, aged 7 and 13, were found “in excruciating pain yelling for help” after both were injured in the crash and subsequently abandoned by Smith, according to an arrest form.
With the assistance of a K-9 officer, police located Smith in a nearby backyard and took him into custody.
Officers said they found a loaded .40 caliber Glock 22 in plain sight on the driver’s side floor when searching the car.
Smith’s injured niece and nephew were taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Smith was taken to jail after being medically cleared. He’s facing several felony charges, including two counts of child neglect causing great bodily harm.