Family Alleges Police Chase Led To Deadly Motorcycle Crash On Rickenbacker Causeway
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A deadly accident involving a motorcyclist is raising a lot of questions.
The helmet cam video posted online appears to show a Miami police officer pursuing a husband and wife on a motorcycle.
The pair ended up plunging off the Rickenbacker Causeway; the husband was killed and the wife critically injured.
Friends and family believe the crash was caused due to a Miami officer chasing the couple.
Video posted online purports to show a Miami officer pursuing biker Yoinis Cruz Pena at a high rate of speed on Memorial Day weekend.
Pena was killed and his wife, Yailen Gonzalez Gonzalez, was critically hurt when they rammed the off-ramp to U.S. 1 and were thrown to the pavement below.
The actual crash was not captured on video, at least not on any video yet released.
Friends and family are convinced the couple was pursued to their death because a cop, for whatever reason, picked a biker out of a group to target and didn't break off the pursuit.
"The reason why that happened is because they was getting chased by the cops. He was getting chased by this officer right here," said Pena's cousin Alejandro Mustafa, holding a cell phone with images for reporters to see.
The police union counters that if any officer was speeding, it was to come to the rescue at the serious crash.
"Miami police officers responded in emergency mode to render aid. There was no evidence that any point any Miami Police officer chased anyone at a high rate of speed," said Edward Lugo, president of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Miami Police issued a statement saying in part, "the Miami Police department does not have knowledge or information of any Miami Police officer or any other agency in pursuit of [the motorcycle]."
The department does say the investigation remains very much ongoing.
Cruz Pena, a recent arrival from Cuba, worked at a tattoo parlor in West Miami-Dade.
Co-workers of Pena's say he was wearing a GoPro Camera and that Police have that camera.
Yailen Gonzalez Gonzalez remains at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Ryder Trauma Center where a friend said she underwent the most recent of several surgeries Monday.
The friend said doctors say it will be 6 months before she is able to walk.