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Injured Officers Released From Hospital After Struggle With Suspect

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – A man is dead and two Miami-Dade police officers were injured during a struggle in South Miami Heights late Thursday night.

Miami-Dade Police say 39-year-old Maykel Barrera died at the hospital Friday following an altercation with police during which he was tased. Both officers suffered head lacerations and were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. They are expected to be okay.

"Put his knee in the mans chest tasing him, I will kill you I will kill you, ima shoot you," recalled neighbor Demetrius Mckenzie as she watched police try to take Barrera into custody.

Miami-Dade police say two officers responded to a call about a domestic dispute between a husband and wife at SW 204 Street and 122nd Avenue in South Miami Heights.

When the two officers arrived at around 11:00 p.m., police say Barrera was combative and ran.

"He put up a violent struggle with the officers and two of our officers were injured both sustaining injuries to the head," said Det. Robin Pinkard  of Miami-Dade Police.

"They were trying to get him down. They dropped him like three times," said Sabrina Torres. "They were trying to get him down but I didn't want to stay. I think he was trying to run."

Police said the officers chased the suspect and once they caught up with him, he fought back.

"[They] tried to slam him on the car so happened he ended up knocking one of the polices on the ground, another police tried to choke him," said Mckenzie.

"All I heard was drop the gun, drop the gun but I don't know who was saying drop the gun," said neighbor Milagros Vasquez.. "I'm gonna shoot you, I'm gonna shoot you."

Police say the officers tried to subdue Barrera with a taser.

"The man was like the incredible hulk. Tasers weren't doing nothing just like bop bop, tasers kept going off," said witness Jerwaune Johnson.

Witnesses say Barrera was still in handcuffs when he stopped breathing and police tried to revive him, they say he was unresponsive as he was taken away by ambulance.

"When they finished, they pull man out the street like he was a dead dog," said Mckenzie.

Barrera was rushed to the hospital where he later died. Both injured cops were treated and released from the hospital.

Barrera was arrested in 2013 for aggravated battery. Police said they do not believe was armed during the altercation.

Investigators are waiting on autopsy and toxicology results to determine Barrera's exact cause of death.

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