MIAMI (WSVN) - Cameras captured a confrontation between victims of a hit-and-run crash and the alleged culprit in the City of Miami over the weekend.
Police arrested the hit-and-run driver, identified as 25-year-old Oleg Maxwell Lagutenko. He appeared in bond court, Monday afternoon.
“You were arrested for fleeing and eluding a police officer,” Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer said to Lagutenko in bond court. “Three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with property damage.”
A witness took cellphone video of the wrath of the victims as they lashed out on the hit-and-run driver’s SUV, Sunday morning, along Biscayne Boulevard, near Northwest 14th Avenue.
According to witnesses, the driver of a silver Infiniti SUV was trying to leave the scene of an accident, when several other drivers stepped in to try and stop the driver from speeding away.
In an arrest report, police said one of the victims told them Lagutenko was traveling southbound on Biscayne Boulevard and crossed the median into oncoming traffic. The victim’s car was struck by Lagutenko’s SUV.
The arrest report added that Lagutenko failed to stop at the crash scene and continued traveling northbound in the southbound lanes along Biscayne Boulevard. As he crossed Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 36th Street, he crashed into two more vehicles.
In a video from the second crash scene, a man could be seen swinging a hammer at the windows of Lagutenko’s SUV, breaking some of the glass. Lagutenko then, police said, put his SUV in reverse and fled once again.
Monika Ramirez, the woman who recorded the video, said she wanted to help in whatever way she could.
“I called the police and 911,” she said. “I was so nervous.”
Miami Police said officers pursued Lagutenko on Federal Highway, near 48th Street. They were told to cease their pursuit before another officer stopped Lagutenko.
The arrest report said Lagutenko seemed to be under the influence of drugs.
Lagutenko appeared in bond court Monday afternoon and was issued a $5,000 bond.
However, he asked the judge to lower the bond.
“I guess you had a rough day yesterday,” Glazer said to Lagutenko.
“Yeah,” he responded.
Lagutenko’s charges include eluding and fleeing from a police officer and reckless driving. He now has a total of 20 traffic citations in Miami-Dade County over the last eight years.
Police also used the incident – in regards to the person taking a hammer to the car – not to take the law into their own hands. It’s better to call police.
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