Police: Naked Florida Man Arrested In Attempted Murder Of Police Officer
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Hallandale Beach Police say a bizarre scene on Monday morning began at an Ocean Drive condo with a naked man falling or jumping from a second-floor balcony and ended a short time later with the man arrested for the attempted murder of a police officer.
Residents at the Islands Martinique condo say they awoke before 7 a.m. to a fight on a second-floor balcony. Then, they saw a man possibly thrown from a balcony.
"He came up like anything and started screaming.," said one resident, who asked that we not use his name.
Then, residents saw the man running and walking through the condo parking lot and make his way to Ocean Drive where he chased down a car that was exiting the condo, all while naked.
"He jumps on the back of the car hanging on," the resident said. "What he was hanging on to, I have no idea. It was going 40-50 miles per hour."
Hallandale Beach Police say the man, identified as Walter Eugene Martin, rode on the car until he arrived at a building a short distance away from where he got into a scuffle with a valet and stole a car. Police arrived and followed the car into Golden Beach. At some point, an officer got out of his patrol car to make a traffic stop and got hit by the suspect's car.
"One of the officers was struck by the suspect in this stolen vehicle," said Hallandale Beach Police Capt. RaShana Dabney-Donovan.
The officer fired several rounds at the naked man but did not hit him, police say. Investigators tell us the naked man drove a short distance, got stuck, ran away and was caught. He now faces a slew of charges including attempted murder of a police officer and stealing a car.
"Any time we have a situation like this, our officers are forced to act rather quickly so their training comes into effect and we have to take action to protect yourself and the lives of others," Donovan said.
The suspect and two officers were taken to the hospital with injuries. Police say the officers have been released. It's unclear about the suspect but it's expected at some point he'll be taken to jail.
People who live in the building where this all started just want their quiet life back.
"We're all upset because this is happening right here in our building," a resident said. "This is the beach. We don't have this every time. It's a quiet area."