MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – A Miami Beach police officer was sitting in her cruiser when a man suddenly jumped into the car. What happened next may have saved her life.
Authorities said last Tuesday, just before 12:30 p.m., a man suffering a mental health crisis jumped into her marked patrol car at Fifth Street and Lenox Avenue and demanded that she drive.
According to an incident report, the officer was on routine patrol when the man suddenly jumped into the car and ordered her to drive.
Fearing for her life, the officer deployed her Taser seven times. A Miami-Dade Schools police officer then jumped in to help.
The officer wrote in her report, “My vehicle was still on, with the engine running. I was concerned that the subject would climb into the driver’s seat and attempt to drive away. It should be noted that we were 100 feet away from South Pointe Elementary.”
The officer further stated, “After the second Taser cycle, I told the subject to get out of my vehicle, but he instead yelled, ‘I’m on the floor!’ Again, refusing to make an attempt to remove himself from my vehicle, I administered another Taser cycle.”
The situation continued to escalate.
“After the seventh taser cycle, I lost partial view of the subject’s body,” she wrote. “Unable to reach across my vehicle, I cycled my Taser once more to place the subject in custody.”
When finally in custody, the man asked officers if they were “eating pretzels” and claimed to be “from a reality TV show.”
While being treated, he requested that officers notify Oprah Winfrey.
Police said the man was Baker Acted.