Miami Beach Officer Injured While Trying To Stop Motorcyclist
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A police officer was injured Friday afternoon while attempting to stop a motorcyclist in Miami Beach.
Police said their officer was struck by a motorcyclist, who was later taken into custody.
"I heard the crash and I tried to run and I saw one of the ladies giving first aide to the police officer," Karen Rivera said.
The injured officer, identified as Sgt. Philip Elmore, a 13 year veteran with the force, was transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center.
UPDATE: Motor Officer on foot attempted to stop motorcyclist. The motorcyclist struck our officer.
Subject in custody
Officer enroute to JMH700blk of Collins will be closed to all traffic. https://t.co/sjP5mnYHOJ
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) March 22, 2019
"There was a police officer right there bleeding on the ground with his leg, like, all big and stuff. They crashed really hard, like really really hard," Rivera said.
Video images sent to CBS4 showed the suspect being restrained by police and the injured officer on the ground.
The agency said through a tweet that they expect the officer to be OK.
Elmore remains at JMH, where he is being evaluated, police said.
The man who is accused of running over Elmore faces serious felony charges, authorities said.
Police have not released the name of the motorcyclist.
"I expect he'll face a whole bunch of really serious charges his behavior was outrageous and he ran his motorcycle into a police officer and I hope he pays a heavy price for that," said Dan Oates, Miami Beach Chief of Police.
Regarding Elmore, Oates said, "he's obviously in a lot of discomfort but we expect he'll make a full recovery."
The police chief credits the increased patrol for arresting the suspect quickly and getting help over to the injured officer.
Friday was the first day officers increased patrol to 370 officers on the beach from multiple agencies during peak times.
The chief says the injured officer was the only major incident of the day.
