By Natalie McNeal
The Miami Herald
LAUDERHILL, Fla. — The parking lot of a Lauderhill hotel turned into a boxing beat down when an officer found himself on the ground after being punched by a car burglary suspect.
The assault on the officer, Elijah Rodgers, started shortly before 9 a.m. Sunday at the Inverarry Vacation Resort, 3501 Inverarry Blvd, after the officer spotted two men next to a Dodge Caliber, one of them crouched next to it. Rodgers started to get out of his vehicle to question the men when one attacked the officer, punching him in the head several times.
The two men then jumped into a nearby car and drove away, Rodgers close behind.
They ditched the car but didn’t get far. Police set up a perimeter closing off several blocks near Florida’s Turnpike and Oakland Park Boulevard.
A short time later, police received a tip that one of the men was hiding in a minivan in the Devonhunt Condos not far from the turnpike. Lauderhill police arrested him. He was the same man who had assaulted the officer, police said. His cohort escaped, and police were still searching for him late Sunday.
Inside the Dodge Caliber, which was a rental, police found a center punch, often used in car burglaries.
“It shows that both of these guys were up to no good,” said Lauderhill police Lt. Mike Cochran.
Police said the suspect gave them a false identity and they were trying to identify him through fingerprints.
The assault on Rodgers is the latest attack, several fatal, against law enforcement officers in the last month in South Florida.
“It’s concerning,” said Cochran said. “We are the last line of defense for the average citizen.”
Copyright 2007 The Miami Herald