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Congratulations to Officers Christian Crespo and Alexander Rodriguez, recipients of the City of Coral Gables “Officer of the Month Award,” for the month of November 2020.
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ACTION/RECOMMENDATION
I nominate Officer Christian Crespo and Officer Alexander Rodriguez to receive the Officer of the
Month Award for their immediate response and quick apprehension of a felony subject as noted below.
BACKGROUND
On Monday, November 9th, 2020, at approximately 6:40 a.m., Coral Gables Police units responded in emergency mode to the area of the 400-Block of Zamora Avenue reference to an unknown subject wearing all black clothing seen breaking into a black Jeep vehicle. The reporter further advised CGPD communications that the subject was still inside the vehicle.
Officer Crespo was the first officer to arrive on scene at approximately 6:42 a.m., when he observed the listed black Jeep vehicle parked in the driveway of 421 Zamora Avenue. Officer Crespo immediately exited his marked police vehicle and confronted a white male matching the description exiting the listed vehicle from the right front passenger door. Officer Crespo instructed the offender to get on the ground as he held him at gun point. The offender at no point obeyed Officer Crespo's verbal commands and swiftly walked in front of the vehicle as he back peddled away from him eastbound on the 400-block of Zamora Avenue.
Officer Rodriguez was the second officer to arrive on scene at approximately 6:43 a.m., when he exited his marked police vehicle and heard Officer Crespo give loud and clear commands to the offender to stop and get on the ground. The offender did not comply and proceeded to walk away from Officer Crespo eastbound on the 400-block of Zamora Avenue and stated, "Why do I need to stop?" Officer Rodriguez approached the offender and gave him loud and clear commands to stop, he proceeded to run eastbound on the 400-block of Zamora Avenue away from Officer Crespo and Officer Rodriguez. Officer Crespo and Officer Rodriguez engaged in a foot pursuit in attempt to apprehend the offender. Officer Crespo and Officer Rodriguez ran parallel to each other as they ran after the offender. The offender did not stop and kept running, prior to reaching LeJeune Road, Officer Rodriguez drew his department issued Taser 7 and deployed one cartridge while running and aiming at the offender's mid back area. The Taser deployment had a negative effect on the offender.
The offender continued to run eastbound and resist arrest. Shortly after the first deployment, Officer Rodriguez deployed a second Taser cartridge along the 400-block of Zamora Avenue, while running and aiming at the offender's mid back area. The second deployment also had a negative affect and might have contacted an umbrella, which was being carried by the offender. Shortly after Officer Rodriguez's second Taser deployment, Officer Crespo drew his department issued Taser 7 and deployed one cartridge, while running and aiming at the offender's mid back area. One of the taser prongs appears to have contacted the offender's back; however, the deployment had a negative affect and did not fully incapacitate the offender. The offender continued to run in an eastbound direction and crossed LeJeune Road as Officer Crespo and Officer Rodriguez continued to run after him. The offender ran onto the east side sidewalk and stumbled on the southwest grass area of 4138 SW 16 Terrace (Havana Air). As the offender was in a prone position, Officer Rodriguez approached the right side of the offender and placed his right shin onto his right shoulder blade, while Officer Crespo was on the offender's left side. Both officers attempted to place him in restraints. The offender placed his arms under his chest area and braced tightly while both officers attempted to pull his arms free. The offender would not free them. Shortly after, both officers were able to gain control of the offender's arms and place him into custody. The offender was quickly placed in a recovery position.
Coral Gables Fire Rescue responded to the scene, treated, and transported the offender to Doctor's Hospital (For further details refer to Coral Gables EMS Case # 20-006566). The offender was checked for injuries and it was confirmed that one of the Taser prongs contacted his back causing a red bruise. The offender was treated for his injuries at the listed hospital. It was determined that the subject removed the prong by unknown means prior to being taken into custody.
The listed incident was dispatched during inclement weather as units worked under Hurricane ETA all night and approached the last few hours of their shift. Both officers stayed after their shift approximately 5-6 hours working on the Arrest Affidavit, Incident Report, Supplement Report, Impounded Property, and conducted a Taser Data Download with our Training Section.
Due to both officers' immediately response to the vehicle burglary in process the offender was apprehended, and a felony arrest was made.
SYNOPSIS/CONCLUSION
Based on the aforementioned, I request the listed Officers receive the Officer of the Month Award for their joint response and apprehension efforts.