KEY LARGO, Fla. —Newly released dashboard and body camera footage captures the moment when a South Florida attempted murder suspect stole a deputy’s cruiser, carjacked a woman and crashed her SUV, Local 10 News reported.
The incident unfolded on Dec. 22 when Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies attempted to arrest a man accused of severely beating his ex-girlfriend, according to the report. He allegedly suffocated her with a cleaning cloth soaked in Fabuloso and strangling her while repeatedly threatening to kill her.
A 911 call from the man’s daughter described the attack: “My dad is in my house hitting my mom to death.”
When MCSO Sgt. James Hager arrived, the man resisted arrest, punching the deputy and attempting to grab his firearm, according to the report. The sergeant attempted to subdue the man with a TASER, but he managed to break free, enter Hager’s patrol car and drive off.
“He just stole my patrol car!” Hager is heard saying in body camera video. “He’s running northbound. Lights are on. He tried to take my gun from my holster.”
Dashboard footage from the stolen cruiser shows the suspect driving erratically before stopping near a storefront. With the vehicle’s emergency lights still flashing, he approached a 46-year-old woman in an SUV, who appeared to believe she was being pulled over. The video shows the man pulling on her door and demanding she get out.
Deputies and a Florida Highway Patrol trooper quickly pursued him before he lost control of the SUV, causing it to roll over. Video captures officers pulling the man from beneath the overturned vehicle.
Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay later called the incident a “reminder of the dangers law enforcement officers routinely face while simply doing their jobs.”
The man remains jailed without bond on multiple charges, according to the report.
