Officers Recount Trying To Save Woman Killed In Suspected Murderer's Path
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The officers who were first on the scene following the crash of murder suspect with an innocent driver gave their account of what happened minutes after the terrifying and deadly scene took place, Wednesday.
"I've been doing this for 23 years and this ranks right up there as one of the most horrific scenes," said Deputy John Kelly with the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
The three officers risked their own lives to try to pull off a miracle. Seconds after the horrendous wreck, they tried desperately to save Maritza Medina who was thrown from her mangled Mercedes.
"When I got to that scene, the first thing that came to my mind was if that was one of my own family members there, what would I expect from law enforcement or from somebody to save my family?" Officer Jonathan Dweck with the Miami-Dade Police Department told CBS4's Ted Scouten.
Officer Dweck found Medina on the ground and used his car for cover from possible gunfire from the murder suspect who caused the whole crash. He quickly began CPR. That's when BSO Deputy John Kellly pulled up to help.
"Jonathan and myself loaded Ms. Medina in the back of my car and we attempted to get her to an ambulance," Kelly added. "We exited the scene and we made our way east bound on Griffin looking for an ambulance and around 195th, we found a fire truck."
All of that was going on after officers heard shots from the suspect's car. BSO Sergeant John Rodriguez covered the two as they tried to save her life.
"We didn't have to talk much out there, but we knew what we had to do and we got the job done," said Sergeant John Rodriguez with the Broward County Sheriff's Office.
The three officers said this is what they're trained for and that this is what they do, but they admit, there's more to it. Sometimes, it gets very personal and hits home hard.
"I feel really extremely sorry and extremely sad. Even right now I feel it in my heart it's almost like it was one of my own family members," said Dweck.
"Last night, I hugged my wife a little tighter, a little longer. Life is fragile man, very fragile and when you see that in your back seat how fragile life is, it hits home," added Kelly.
