Man steals Rolls-Royce and crashes it into Fort Lauderdale Checkers, police say
FORT LAUDERDALE — A man was arrested after stealing a Rolls-Royce SUV from a valet and crashing it into a Fort Lauderdale Checkers restaurant early Wednesday morning, police said.
Malik Patterson, 21, was charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle and resisting without violence. According to Fort Lauderdale Police, he has two outstanding warrants stemming from Broward County and Placer County, California.
Around 2:15 a.m., Fort Lauderdale Police were called out to reports of the stolen white Rolls-Royce Cullinan near 505 N Fort Lauderdale Blvd., which officers found later Patterson driving westbound on West Broward Boulevard.
As soon as he noticed the police, Patterson continued driving west until he crashed into the Checkers at 2701 W. Broward Blvd, Fort Lauderdale Police told CBS News Miami. Police said no injuries were reported as a result of the crash. Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue and the building inspector were also called out to investigate.
After crashing the Rolls Royce, Patterson allegedly jumped out of the luxury vehicle and fled. He was found shortly after by Fort Lauderdale Police's K9 unit and arrested.
According to police and the Rolls-Royce's owner, the vehicle was stolen from the valet at the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Beach Resort overnight.
"I was sleeping and there was a knock on the door, saying that [my] car was taken from the valet and we found it at Checkers over here on Commercial Boulevard, so I was like great," he told CBS News Miami.
A spokesperson for the Hilton provided the following statement to CBS News Miami:
"We are aware of an incident that occurred overnight involving our third-party valet company. Upon learning of the situation, local authorities were immediately contacted. Both the hotel and our independently owned and operated vendor are cooperating fully with police on their investigation."