Video shows officer try to stop driver from fleeing scene in car. He came up limping.
Police body camera footage released Friday evening shows a Miramar police officer trying in vain to stop a 20-year-old man from speeding away from a traffic stop at a Publix shopping center earlier in the day.
The officer, who was injured in the incident, ran after the man and opened his door before the man quickly sped away, the video shows.
The officer came up limping after the incident and was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital with injuries that weren’t life threatening.
Johnny Lee Morris Jr. evaded arrest for much of the day, police said. He was arrested later on Friday and faces charges of aggravated battery of a police officer, leaving the scene of an accident with injuries and providing a false name to police, according to Miramar police.
It was unclear Friday evening if Morris had been booked into a Broward County jail, as he did not appear in online records. Miramar police did not provide further details on his arrest.
About 4:30 a.m., the officer had attempted to pull over Morris for speeding but lost track of the vehicle. He later found Morris at a shopping center in the 6800 block of Miramar Parkway at a Chase ATM.
The video shows the officer writing in a notebook and communicating on his radio when Morris bolted from the officer’s cruiser, where he had been standing, and got into his car.
The screeching of his tires and the thrust of the engine echo across the parking lot, as the officer’s body-worn camera falls from his chest and onto the pavement.
This story was originally published July 19, 2019 at 4:56 PM.
%20Cropped%20(2).jpg)
.JPG)