A suspect in a narcotics investigation escaped police, led them on a chase and ended up crashing into several vehicles including a cop car Wednesday night in southwest Miami-Dade in an incident that was caught on camera.
The incident began around 7 p.m. when narcotics detectives conducted a traffic stop to take the suspect into custody, Miami-Dade Police officials said.
As the detectives approached, the suspect, who was driving a black Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, tried to run over the detectives and struck one of their vehicles as he fled, officials said.
A pursuit and ended when the suspect crashed into a white Nissan Sentra which then collided with a black Tesla in the area of Southwest 128th Street and U.S. 1, police said.
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The truck was then re-directed and struck a marked police vehicle before it rolled over, hitting a light pole and tree.
Dashcam footage from the Tesla shows the truck briefly going airborne before flipping over and losing a wheel as it skids down the street upside-down.
Cellphone video also showed the damaged Nissan that the suspect allegedly rear-ended during the pursuit. The driver of that car was taken to the hospital in stable condition.
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The Tesla had a pregnant woman and a 2-year-old inside. They were treated on the scene and released.
The 39-year-old suspect ended up hospitalized, also in stable condition. He was later identified as James Exposito.
He is being held on 10 charges with a bond totaling $156,500.
Police and witnesses say it could have been much worse.
"The moment was crazy, I'll be honest with you," one witness said. "It was crazy. We saw it from the moment he tried to flee to the moment he crashed here. We saw every bystander that got hit, even the cops. We didn’t know what to do, but fortunately for us, me and my friend are perfectly fine."
