FLORIDA CITY, FLA. (WSVN) - - A chaotic chain of events in Florida City left a 17-year-old driver dead after, police said, he slammed into the side of a home while fleeing from officers.
Miami-Dade Police units arrived at the scene of the rollover crash in the River Oaks town home community, along the 500 block of Northwest Fifth Avenue, Thursday afternoon.
“The only thing I heard was a big bang,” said area resident Roger McCray.
According to investigators, this all started when an officer with MDPD Robbery Intervention Detail attempted to pull over the driver, later identified as Brandon Madison, at a Sunoco gas station because of a traffic infraction.
Police said the officer approached Madison at the gas station, located about 10 blocks away from the crash scene, and asked him for his ID and to get out of the black Mercedes-Benz; that was when Madison slammed the door on the officer’s hand and fled.
In the process, police said, Madison struck a car in the parking lot. The woman behind the wheel of that vehicle is expected to be OK.
Investigators said another RID officer tried to stop the teen, who was traveling at a high rate of speed.
Moments later, Madison made a U-turn, lost control of the vehicle and ran up in the grass outside of a home, flipping over several times before slamming into the wall of the home. Area residents ran outside.
“You know, the wheels were still turning, and you can smell the rubber from the car tires,” said McCray.
“We saw all the smoke,” said area resident Mari Williams.
The car crashed through a fence and knocked it to the ground.
“I realized that it was a car that made it into the apartment, and I was like, ‘Oh, my God,'” said Williams.
Madison was pronounced dead at the scene.
“I came out, and he never did move. I knew he had done passed away,” said McCray.
Police said the mangled Mercedes was a rental.
“What’s most important is that you have a 17-year-old that lost their life. You have a 17-year-old that, because of the fact that, for whatever reason why he was fleeing, he put himself and other people in danger,” said MDPD Detective Alvaro Zabaleta. “These are the things that people have to take into consideration, that your actions may have some serious consequences, and in this case, the consequence was his own life.”
Detectives said no one was inside the home at the time of the crash. The crash left a gaping hole in the side of the home.
Williams recorded video of the immediate aftermath of the crash.
“That car literally came flying,” she is heard saying in the video.
7Skyforce hovered above the scene as an officer stood guard near a handgun that was located about half a block away from the home.
Police said the firearm had a high-capacity magazine, and bullets flew when it fell out of the Mercedes. Officers marked the casings feet from where the rental ended up.
Detectives later said the handgun was stolen out of Northeast Miami-Dade.
The Mercedes was later removed from the scene.
“To lose his life at 17 years old, that hurts, to see our young people go out like that,” said McCray.
7News cameras captured the home being boarded up.
Investigators said the officer whose hand was hurt is expected to be OK.
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