MIAMI – A motorcyclist involved in a hit-and-run crash with a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy was in custody on Wednesday.
Broward Sheriff's Office Sgt. John Kelly pulled Michael Ciriago over at Weston Road and Royal Palm Boulevard about 9:20 a.m. during a routine traffic stop, according to BSO. Ciriago pulled over, but when Kelly approached him, Ciriago hit him and drove away.
"Our deputies knew that he had attempted to possibly kill a deputy by disregarding the fact that the deputy was there and just trying to flee, thus injuring him," said BSO spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion
Two other deputies shot Ciriago, 31, hitting him in the elbow and also hitting the windshield of another car, barely missing its driver.
Ciriago was taken into custody on Okeechobee Road near Florida's Turnpike about 20 minutes later. when he crashed into two police cars, said investigators. He was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital with non life-threatening injuries.
"It just doesn't pay to run from the police," said Police Benevolent Association President John Rivera.
In Broward County, Ciriago will face charges of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer and felony fleeing and eluding. He'll face separate charges in Miami-Dade County.
"The suspect does have a history of fleeing from law enforcement," said Concepcion. "We know that he just finished, in 2005, serving a prison sentence for aggravated fleeing."
According to BSO, other charges in his criminal history include resisting a law enforcement officer, numerous traffic charges, DUI, possession of narcotics, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, kidnapping, possession of a firearm and dealing in stolen property. Though his license has been suspended numerous times, it's currently valid.
Kelly, a 22-year veteran, was transported to the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, where he was treated and released. In September, he tried saving a woman who was killed in a crash on U.S. 27.
