Police have issued an arrest warrant, the Miami Herald reported, to extradite an armed robbery suspect who led police on a dangerous high speed chase through the streets of Miami Wednesday morning, before he collided with a tanker truck and was taken into custody on I-95.
The chase began around 11 a.m. at 4025 Northwest 4th Terrace in Miami after an officer saw an armed robbery in progress, police officials said.
Witnesses said Tyrone Chica, 43, tried to rob an elderly woman in broad daylight and at gunpoint while six officers were sitting at a nearby diner.
Officers began to chase the car, a dark-colored SUV through the streets of Miami, as Chica weaved in and out of traffic, driving in turn lanes and sidewalks and flying through stop signs and stop lights.
At one point, officers seemed to have the SUV surrounded at a busy intersection, but the car bolted across a front yard as the officers with guns drawn decided not to open fire.
Chica made his way to I-95 and was speeding northbound with approximately two dozen squad cars following closely behind.
The pursuit ended nearly 20 minutes after it began when Chica tried to exit I-95 at Hallandale Beach Road. That's where the SUV collided with the back of a juice tanker truck in a violent wreck, destroying the front end of the suspects' car and deploying its airbags.
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An injured Chica finally gave up, climbing unsteadily out of the window of the severely damaged car as cops took him into custody.
He was later seen being put on a stretcher.
The driver of the tanker, believed to be carrying orange juice, was also taken away for treatment on a stretcher.
Chica's relatives said he is a chef who has been out of work for two years. The SUV he was driving belonged to his wife, whose brother just happens to be a West Miami police officer.
