Police chase of car through park off Ocean Drive to be reviewed. Chief calls suspects ‘bad dudes’

A Miami Beach police officer’s decision to pursue a suspected car thief through a park filled with people on Sunday might have violated the department’s chase policy and will be reviewed by the department.

Cellphone video from a bystander captured the chaos, showing dozens of people scurrying for safety as a Cadillac cut through a swath of grass at Lummus Park off Ocean Drive between Sixth and Seventh Streets. A Beach patrol SUV with its lights and siren on followed just a few lengths behind.

But Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Clements on Monday was quick to defend the action, calling the policy review routine and saying the officer turning on his lights and sirens helped warn people possibly in the path of the stolen car.

Because the car had earlier grazed one officer and nearly hit another, Clements said police chasing the suspect appeared to use “a tremendous amount of restraint.”

“We look at every pursuit to make sure policy was followed,” said Clements. “We do know we had an officer struck by a vehicle. Fortunately, he was not hurt. The driver did endanger at least two officers’ lives that night. They had to take evasive action. These are bad dudes.”

The police department’s vehicle pursuit policy is fairly clear. Officers are supposed to abandon a chase if property or lives are endangered, if there is pedestrian traffic that could be in harm’s way, or if a suspect is fleeing the wrong way down a street. The policy also says reckless maneuvers should not be duplicated.

One law-enforcement source in Miami Beach said the decision to take the police SUV through park grounds appeared to be “a clear violation of the policy.”

“It’s clear as day,” said the source. “The question is, is the juice worth the squeeze?”

The incident began at about 2:30 p.m. Sunday when the four-door black Cadillac blew through a police traffic enforcement checkpoint at Alton Road and South Pointe Park and headed north, police said.

It’s unclear exactly what sparked that move, but the chief said it turned out that the same car also managed to elude Aventura police on Saturday night after a brief chase. Police couldn’t say if the people involved in the Beach chase were also in the car the evening before.

Near Ocean Drive and Second Street, the Cadillac struck a police motorcycle and an officer, who wasn’t injured. Then, after hopping a sidewalk and with police in pursuit, the driver barreled through the Lummus Park grass and headed north on Ocean Drive, which was closed to vehicular traffic.

Near Ocean and Sixth Street, surveillance video from a restaurant caught people dashing inside as the vehicles approached. After turning on Seventh Street, the Cadillac blew a tire on a traffic-control spike after crashing into several vehicles.

The driver fled across Washington Avenue, police said, and broke free from one officer and struck another several times in the upper body. Police say they used a Taser electronic stun device because of his “aggressive violent behavior and intense desire to flee.”

He turned out to be a 15-year-old, whom the Miami Herald is not naming because he is a minor. He was charged with aggravated assault on a lawenforcement officer, grand theft, fleeing and eluding police, carrying a concealed firearm, and petit theft, all felonies. According to police, a Glock 19 with an extended magazine and 24 rounds of ammunition were in the car’s driver seat.

Police also believe that during the chase, three women and a man bailed from the Cadillac, leaving the teen in the driver’s seat. Though they would like to speak with everyone involved, they particularly would like to talk to Isariel Delestre, 18, who is wanted on charges of battery on a law-enforcement officer and false imprisonment. Police said they consider him armed and dangerous.

Two years ago, a Miami Beach police officer saw a homeless man steal a BMW in North Beach and gave chase. During the pursuit, an officer’s patrol vehicle careened into a car driven by 68-year-old grandmother Ivonne Reyes, who was killed. Two officers were injured.