MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Authorities arrested a Miami woman after they said she “intentionally” hit two other vehicles as she fled a state trooper who pulled her over on the Palmetto Expressway during the Tuesday morning rush hour.
Taniya Tatiana Scott, 28, of Coconut Grove, now faces five felony charges. Authorities said she shouldn’t have been driving to begin with.
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A Florida Highway Patrol arrest report states that a motorcycle trooper saw Scott, in a Nissan sedan, and two other drivers driving on the right shoulder to pass other vehicles at around 8:20 a.m.
According to FHP, the trooper managed to pull over Scott and one of the other drivers near Northwest 12th Avenue in Miami Gardens.
Authorities said the trooper approached Scott — who was not wearing a seat belt — and asked her for her license, which she said she didn’t have.
“I asked her to place her vehicle in park and turn the ignition off. I asked her for the keys to the car and she began searching for them. She handed me a large bundle of keys,” the trooper wrote in the report. “As I made my way back to my motorcycle to get a pad of paper, I could hear the silver (Nissan’s) engine start up again and I observed the driver aggressively accelerate and she began to flee the traffic stop.”
The trooper then gave chase, the report states. He or she wrote that Scott was “recklessly trying to maneuver through the congested rush hour traffic.”
“The driver’s actions were desperate and showed no regard for her safety or the safety of the motoring public,” the report states. “In her attempt to continue to flee, the subject vehicle intentionally struck two other vehicles and continued fleeing eastbound on (the Palmetto).”
Authorities said Scott got off the highway at U.S. 441 and neared the Golden Glades Park & Ride.
The trooper wrote that he or she intercepted Scott as she slowed down in the congested traffic on the U.S. 441 exit ramp. Her window was open, the report states, so the trooper pepper-sprayed her in the face in an attempt to get her to stop.
According to the report, Scott rolled up her window and continued down the ramp, eventually coming to a stop.
“I attempted to open the (driver) side door commanding the driver to open the door and exit the vehicle. (It) remained locked and the driver refused to open her door,” the trooper wrote. “I attempted to gain access to the driver by breaking the driver-side window with a window-breaking tool. Finally, the driver opened her door and surrendered without further resistance.”
Troopers arrested Scott on four felony counts of various fleeing and eluding charges and one felony count of habitual driving with a suspended license. She also faces an ordinance violation of resisting arrest without violence and a traffic citation for reckless driving causing property damage.
As of Wednesday, Scott was being held in the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on a bond of more than $13,000.