Miami Beach PD car chase rules and arrests made after chase that killed a grandmother
The series of events that led to the death of a North Beach woman after a police cruiser smashed into her car Monday night began when police spotted and pursued a BMW that had been stolen on Miami Beach an hour earlier, police said Wednesday.
By the time the chase ended, 68-year-old Ivonne Reyes, a grandmother who lived two blocks from the crash scene, was dead and two Miami Beach police officers were injured, one after his car was rammed by the suspect and the other after crashing into Reyes.
Despite being cornered several times, the car thief escaped and wasn’t captured until Tuesday night, police said. That’s when, police said, they spotted Timothy Bowers, a 35-year-old homeless man wanted on fugitive warrants in Missouri, in another car at a Collins Avenue condominium.
Some time between midnight Monday and early Tuesday evening, Bowers had ditched the BMW after escaping from police. Police said he struggled with officers while being taken into custody. He was eventually charged with grand theft auto, cocaine possession and resisting arrest without violence.
As of Wednesday evening, Miami Beach police had not charged Bowers with Reyes’ death, though Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates said a day earlier that Bowers might eventually be charged with that crime. Suspects who commit felonies are commonly charged by the state with deaths that occur because of their actions.
Police also had not publicly named the officer involved in the fatal wreck with Reyes. But two law enforcement sources familiar with Monday night’s chase through the north end of the city said a veteran Miami Beach officer named Greg McVey was behind the wheel of the SUV that crashed into Reyes’ Honda at 76th Street and Byron Avenue.
The crash was so violent that the hood of her vehicle had to be extricated before Reyes could be taken out. McVey was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with head and neck injuries and later released. Another officer was also injured when the stolen car driven by the car thief smashed into his patrol car.
Police said it was carelessness that led to the series of events that ended in Reyes’ death and the injury of the two cops. According to Bower’s arrest report, he was walking near a Subway restaurant in the 7400 block of Collins Avenue at about 11 p.m., when he spotted a parked BMW with keys still in the ignition. He hopped into the car, and police said city cameras spotted him driving north on Collins, then east on 75th Street.
Less than an hour later, according to the report, an officer spotted Bowers a half mile away at 76th Street and Dickens Avenue. When Bowers refused to pull over, the officer began to follow. It was during that chase that McVey’s SUV slammed into Reyes’ car.
Then, according to Oates, “The vehicle was next spotted on 86th Street and Byron Avenue, and again there is an attempt to stop it. They follow the car into Surfside because it does not stop.”
After a left turn off 88th Street onto a short, dead end street, Oates said, an officer spotted Bowers, got out of his vehicle and with his weapon drawn ordered Bowers to surrender. He ignored the order.
“The suspect rams our officer’s vehicle and turns west on 88th, approaching another dead end. Multiple officers are now responding to the situation,” said Oates. “The suspect turns the car around to flee and rams another officer’s vehicle, disabling it.”
A woman who claims to have witnessed part of the chase Monday night through the window of her home said officers were moving rapidly with their lights activated, but she heard no sirens. The stolen vehicle was eventually spotted driving along the beach walk, Oates said. Police later found it abandoned on the sand around 53rd Street.
The following day, Tuesday, in the early evening, Miami Beach cops working a robbery detail spotted Bowers sitting in a Nissan Versa parked at the Collins Hotel, 6600 Collins Ave. Police were finally able to take him into custody, they said, but only after he fought back and an officer was forced to elbow him in the head to get him under control.
In the car with Bowers was 35-year-old Memphis resident Richard Wallace, who had a local warrant out for his arrest on cocaine possession and petty theft. Wallace was charged with possession of cocaine, possession of Xanax without a prescription and marijuana possession with intent to distribute.
Juan Velasquez told local television station WSVN 7 that he owned the stolen BMW.
“When I come out, my car is gone,” he told the station. “I jumped into the car with the police officer and went to the car accident. I saw a woman with a car so damaged and the police officer with blood on his head.”
By Wednesday morning a memorial of candles and flowers had been set up for Reyes near the crash site. Police said she’s a long time employee of the Fontainebleau Hotel.
This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 11:59 AM.
