Miami Beach Police Officer Released From Hospital After Hit & Run
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A Miami Beach Police officer has been released from the hospital after being involved in a hit and run that apparently stemmed from a street race.
It is just after 10:30 p.m. on South Beach when a number of officers on bike patrol pulled over two cars on Ocean Drive and 7th Street.
"There was some sort of tandem racing going on between the two of them," said Miami Beach Police Chief Daniel Oates.
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Miami Beach Police said Officer Eddie Alba approached one of the vehicles, a 2014 Mercedes S550. The vehicle took off after Alba asked the driver for his driver's license.
"When the vehicle took off, somehow Officer Alba became connected to the vehicle and was dragged. He was dragged somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-300 feet, at which point he was thrown from the vehicle," said Oates.
As rescue crews rushed Alba to Jackson Memorial Hospital, surveillance cameras capturd the Mercedes driving down Collins Avenue.
Miami Beach Police recovered the vehicle and found the driver.
Authorities identified the driver as Meshach Samuels who had just turned 18 a couple of days earlier and was visiting from Brooklyn.
"He's under arrest for attempted murder. I hope he goes to jail for a long time for what he did. The business of stopping cars by police officers in this country's extraordinarily dangerous and these are the kinds of outcomes that can occur. And when you add up the behavior of this driver before he was stopped, we are lucky that no one died the other night, last night," said Oates.
Officer Alba, who suffered from a severe concussion and road rash, was released from the hospital and it now resting at home.
"Officer Alba spent the night in the hospital, had all kinds of tests and I'm happy to report this afternoon, he went home with his wife," said Oates.
Samuels is facing a number of felony charges including attempted murder, resisting a law enforcement officer and leaving the scene of a crash, among other charges. He is being held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center with no bond.
The other driver who was stopped – and did cooperate with police – was cited for reckless driving.
