Police cruiser strikes sex battery suspect before tough takedown

By Sheldon Fox, Rubén Rosario

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    MIAMI BEACH, Florida (WSVN) — Police made a tough takedown in broad daylight in South Beach’s entertainment district, and it was all caught on camera.

Friday morning’s beach bust near Ninth Street and Collins Avenue came with a Taser zap and several big hits captured by surveillance cameras.

Surveillance video captured the moment a marked Miami Beach Police SUV struck Jeremey Deeon Stafford in an attempt to end his flight from justice, at around 7 a.m.

Moments before, officers in pursuit were seen shocking the suspect with a Taser.

It all led to the moment Stafford, 30, went airborne after having been hit by the cruiser.

Officers were seen surrounding the suspect as they attempted to apprehend him.

“I have a pacemaker! Aaaah!” yelled Stafford.

Officers struck the suspect several times as they worked to hold him down.

“Turn around, stop resisting,” screamed an officer.

Stafford is heard yelling several times that he committed no crime.

“What is my crime? I ain’t did nothing!” he said.

But detectives referred to Stafford as a sexual battery subject who took a combative stance.

Crime technicians spent hours at the scene of the takedown, steps away from the Sherbrooke Hotel.

In addition to the hotel’s surveillance cameras, the Sherbrooke’s owner, Mitch Novick, recorded cellphone video of the takedown.

“I was coming back from my morning run, and I heard screaming,” he said.

That’s when Novick took out his cellphone and hit record. He later checked his surveillance system.

“I saw the suspect not respecting the cops, and then he sought to flee from them, ran into a police cruiser,” he said.

As of Friday night, the suspect’s condition is unknown, but paramedics with Miami Beach Fire Rescue were seen arriving at the scene that marked an electric and violent start to the day.

“A strange day in paradise,” said Novick.

Stafford was arrested for battery on a police officer and other offenses, but he has not yet been charged in connection to the sexual battery incident that, detectives said, took place at the nearby Chesterfield Hotel.

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