Police: Driver Identified In Hit & Run, Chase & Police-Involved Shooting
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Police have identified the suspect killed in an officer involved shooting sparked by a hit and run and ensuing police chase on Tuesday.
Police said Cedric Stanley, 35, was fatally wounded by one of their officers in Miami Springs.
Family tells CBS4's Gaby Fleischman that Stanley was an army veteran and father.
"I loved him and I know he loved me," said his grandmother Mary Stanley. "I don't know how to feel. That shocked me because I was looking for him to step back in my house at the end of the day, waiting on him to come."
Click here to view Gaby Fleischman's report.
According to police, Stanley was driving a silver Kia when he allegedly hit a male pedestrian near US1 and Kendall Drive in Pinecrest just after 1:00 p.m.
The victim was pinned between two cars and rushed to Kendall Regional Medical Center for emergency surgery. Police say he may lose a leg.
Stanley then took off and led police on a chase down the Palmetto Expressway, where detectives say he crashed into several cars, including an unmarked City of Miami police vehicle-- then just kept going.
The car was found abandoned near Oakwood Drive and DeLeon Drive in Miami Springs.
Police searched the area with K9's and found the suspect hiding a block away in an alley between two homes.
"I told them check the last house because there's a lot of stuff in the yard and that's the best place to hide," said neighbor Richard Puyans who heard the gunfire. "Eventually they found him there and four shots later, the suspect was dead."
"He attacked one of our officers. There was a struggle," said Miami-Dade Police Detective Roy Rutland. "The subject actually was fighting with the officer, trying to get his gun from him."
Police say a backup Miami-Dade officer fired his gun, fatally wounding Stanley.
According to witnesses, they heard between three and six shots.
"He wasn't perfect. Ain't nobody perfect, but the way he got killed, police, I just don't understand that," said a cousin Travis Stanley. "Police just shooting people, they got tasers, they could have used a taser."
The officer in the struggle was checked out and is doing okay, according to police on Tuesday.
The man who was injured in the initial hit and run suffered life threatening injuries and was listed in serious but stable condition as of Wednesday evening.
"I just hope that God will forgive [Stanley] for whatever he did and... forgive [the officer] give him a chance in heaven," said a cousin Antoine Stanley.
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