Man arrested on charges of killing taxi driver by dragging him in his own van, cops say
Miami police on Tuesday announced the arrest of a man who detectives say is responsible for the death of a taxicab driver, who was dragged on the street in the moving taxi earlier this month.
Yosmel Gonzalez, 34, was charged with second-degree murder and was being held with no bond.
Just before 6 a.m. Jan. 18, police were called to 48th Street and Biscayne Boulevard for a possible robbery in progress.
When officers arrived they found a Yellow taxicab van crashed into a palm tree in the median. Joel Bertresse, 64, was found on the ground, face down, unresponsive.
Bertresse, who was the driver of the taxi, was taken to a nearby hospital and later died. The Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Officer ruled his death a homicide by blunt force trauma.
Meanwhile, investigators received surveillance footage — which was not made public — from Publix, 4870 Biscayne Blvd., which showed the taxi “abruptly” pulling into the store parking lot just before 6 a.m., according to the police report.
The taxi is in the lot for about two minutes before it reverses out to head north on Biscayne Boulevard, an officer wrote in the report.
The video, according to the report, also showed Bertresse hanging out of the driver’s side door “being dragged while the motor vehicle is in motion.”
The taxi then crashes into a palm tree in the median, continues forward and crashes into another tree before coming to a stop. A man can be seen running away, trying to open the car doors of other motorists, police said.
Police spoke to two separate witnesses who described a similar scene, saying they saw the offender and victim “having what appeared to be an argument.”
They also told police they saw someone driving the taxi as Bertresse hung on and was dragged.
Investigators also learned that Bertresse had picked up a fare at 5:40 a.m. at the 7-Eleven, 6348 Collins Ave. in Miami Beach. Surveillance video from the convenience store showed a man “wearing a very distinctive white shirt with a pattern on it and a black baseball cap turned backwards” getting into the taxi, according to the report.
Officers canvassed the area and found video at the nearby Lombardy Inn Hotel that shows the same man, whom they identified as Gonzalez, leaving the hotel just before 5:40 a.m. and returning at 7:15 a.m wearing the same clothing, police said.
Witnesses were shown photos of Gonzalez and were able to identify him as the man involved in the incident, police said.
On Monday, detectives interviewed Gonzalez, who, according to the report, said “he was involved in a dispute with the taxi driver over the cost of the taxi.”
“Mr. Gonzalez claims that the taxi driver punched him and stabbed him in the mouth,” the officer wrote in the report. “I noticed no visible injuries to Mr. Gonzalez’s mouth.”
Gonzalez also told police that he did not drive the taxi and there was a third person involved, according to the report.
“The surveillance video clearly shows that the victim and Mr. Gonzalez were the only occupants in the taxi,” the officer wrote. “Mr. Gonzalez stated that after crashing into the tree, he ran from the scene because he has a criminal record.”
This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 9:26 PM.
