Man arrested after allegedly injuring plain-clothes cop while fleeing traffic stop

PEMBROKE PINES — A 20-year-old Plantation man is accused of injuring a Pembroke Pines police officer while fleeing a traffic stop, but his attorney said the accused thought he was about to be robbed.

Cedric Paige was pumping gas at the Mobil Mart at 200 S. Flamingo Rd. at about 3 p.m. on July 29 when two plain-clothes officers drove up in an unmarked patrol car to investigate reports of a crash in the area.

According to the arrest report, when the officers approached Paige, he got in a 2020 Nissan Altima and drove off, striking the driver’s side door of the officers’ black Dodge Charger, momentarily pinning a detective sergeant between the car door and the door frame.

The sergeant was treated for minor injuries. Paige was found and arrested Wednesday in Plantation.

He faces a charge of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer and one count of fleeing and eluding police.

At Paige’s first court appearance Thursday, defense attorney Rick Douglas said surveillance video contradicts the police report.

“[The officers] jumped on [Paige] from the back of the vehicle and the front of the vehicle,” Douglas said. “My client thinks he’s being robbed.”

Douglas told the judge that the officers were not in uniform, were driving an unmarked car and could have avoided an escalation by casually approaching Paige to discuss the excessively dark window tinting on his car.

He also disputed the officers’ version of events and statements in the police report indicating that his client rammed the Charger.

“If you take two minutes to watch this video, your honor, none of this happened,” Douglas said.

Bond was set at $10,000, records show.