Taxi Driver Dead After Biscayne Boulevard Robbery
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - An early-morning robbery turned deadly on Biscayne Boulevard on Friday morning.
Miami police said they received a call around 6 a.m. that a car had hit a tree on Biscayne Boulevard at NE 48th Street and that the crash may have involved a robbery.
Arriving officers found a cab driver face down in the median just feet from his taxi. A man on his way to work said he watched in horror as a confusing scene unfolded in front of him when he saw a man driving a cab with another hanging on from outside, being dragged.
"I Just saw one gentleman driving and another gentleman hanging on to him. I saw the taxi turn and he turned around completely and I saw the guy driving and there was someone hanging on to him and they turned around and they kept going," said Rob Vanderborg. "He ran over him and that's when he hit the curb and the tree."
Vanderborg said it appears the man behind the wheel was the robbery suspect and the man hanging on was the cab driver. At some point, he said, the suspect took off.
"He jumped out of the car and tried to get in other people's cars to get of out of here, no one would let him and he ran off," said Vanderborg.
The driver for Miami Beach-based Central Cab was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center where he died.
"The gentleman fleeing, he was bald with a shaved head that was shiny. I don't know if he was clean shaven like me. He had on a white shirt, collared, with like a palm pattern or something. He was a light-skinned Hispanic male with a medium build," Vanderborg told CBS4's Peter D'Oench.
Miami Police could not say if that description was accurate as they had not been given details by homicide detectives.
The crime happened in front of a Publix supermarket that has surveillance cameras. It is not known if police have found any useful surveillance tape. So far no description of the suspect has been released.
The busy road remained closed during the height of morning rush hour as police combed the scene for evidence. In the taxi, they found a knife on the seat.
A spokeswoman for Central Cab told D'Oench that she could not say anything about the driver at this point.
Anyone with information that can help Miami Police should call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477). There is a reward of up to $3,000.
