MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Newly released body camera video offers an up-close view of a tense confrontation between Miami Beach Police officers and a man who, they said, attacked a random woman in her courtyard before he lunged at officers with a screwdriver.
The footage shows the moments before officers took Jean Requena into custody along the 1500 block of Bay Road, Oct. 1.
Video from multiple angles captured the moments the suspect attempted to stab officers with the dagger-shaped screwdriver before he ran off.
“Subject just took off. He was swinging at an officer with a screwdriver. We’re now running,” an officer is heard saying in the video.
Moments later, officers were seen deploying a Taser. It wouldn’t be the last time.
Requena ran from 15th Terrace onto Bay Road.
Officers were seen once again shocking the suspect with a Taser.
Valerie Owen, the woman who, police said, was targeted by Requena before his run-in with officers, spoke about the attack, Monday night.
“He was coming towards me. Yeah, he was coming towards me,” she said.
Owen said she was working in her garden, when the suspect showed up and came at her with the tool.
“With the pipe in hand, with the pipe over his head,” she said.
The victim said Requena left when she yelled for her husband.
Owen shared her account of the attack with 7News at the time.
“He was running from the police,” she said.
On Monday, 7News showed Owen the bodycam video documenting what unfolded after her close call.
Police said it all began when neighbors complained about a disturbance.
Bodycam video from inside a patrol car showed officers attempting to talk to the screwdriver-wielding suspect.
“Every time I try to make contact with him, he runs,” an officer said.
“Papo, put down the pipe!” an officer is heard yelling at Requena.
Investigators said officers spotted the suspect burglarizing a landscaper’s truck, and that’s where he got the screwdriver.
“Sir, sir, sir, sir, get away! What are you doing?” an officer said as officers pulled the landscaper away from the armed man in his truck.
Officers repeatedly tried to persuade Requena to drop the tool, to no avail.
“Drop the screwdriver, and I won’t Tase you!” an officer said.
But even after the initial jolt, Requena never let go of the screwdriver and used it as a weapon before he took off running.
He was shocked with a Taser two more times before officers were able to place him under arrest.
Miami Beach Fire Rescue responded to the scene and transported Requena to Mount Sinai Medical Center for treatment. He was later taken to jail.
“[The officer] could have shot him easy, ’cause this guy is attacking him with a screwdriver,” an officer is heard saying to another in the bodycam video.
No officers were involved.
Requena, 32, faces charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, burglary and resisting an officer with violence. He remains behind bars and is awaiting trial.
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