MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Two people are in custody after a red SUV that was taken during an armed carjacking was located Monday morning in Miami Beach, authorities confirmed.
According to Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez, a license plate reader alerted officers that the vehicle in question had been stolen in Homestead.
Rodriguez said officers tried to stop the SUV near Fifth Street and Washington Avenue, but the driver refused to stop, leading officers to chase the vehicle west on the MacArthur Causeway, until Miami-Dade police took over the chase.
Rodriguez said Miami Beach police K-9 units responded to the scene where the suspects bailed out of the vehicle.
He identified the suspects arrested as Kent Orlando Bowes, 28, of Miami, and Leandre Snow, 21, of Homestead.
According to an arrest report, the stolen 2005 Jeep Cherokee was being driven by Bowes, at times exceeding 90 mph.
Police said Bowes bailed out of the SUV after turning into a gated neighborhood in the area of Southwest 88th Street and 112th Place in Kendall.
Authorities said Bowes and Snow got out of the vehicle and jumped the gate of the community.
A perimeter was set up and both men were taken into custody a short time later.
“This is another example of the value and importance of license plate reader technology which is deployed across our city,” Rodriguez said in an email. “This technology assists with ensuring our residents and visitors are safe.”
Bowes faces charges of fleeing and eluding police, trespassing and driving without a valid license.
Snow was arrested on two probation warrants stemming from Dec. 13.
One of the warrants was for grand theft, criminal mischief and twice violating the terms of his probation, while the second warrant was for fleeing and eluding police and resisting officers without violence.