MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Body cam footage released Friday shows Miami Beach police chasing a man who they say shot and killed another man on Ocean Drive in March during Spring Break.
In the footage, released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, an officer is seen in his patrol car and then reporting that he “has a visual” of the suspect, later identified as Dontavious Polk, 24, of Fort Lauderdale, running down Washington Avenue. The officer gets out of his car and chases Polk.
After the shooting in the early morning hours of March 19, police say, Polk ran north on Ocean Drive and then west at 11th Street where a foot pursuit ensued. Police said before he was apprehended in the 1200 block of Washington Avenue, Polk had dropped his weapon.
Police later obtained surveillance video that captured Polk walking northbound on the west sidewalk in the 100th block of Ocean Drive as the victim was walking southbound on the west sidewalk.
(See the surveillance video just before shooting)
The video shows the suspect with his hands underneath the T-shirt he is wearing, then approaching the victim, pulling out a handgun and shooting the victim several times. After the victim fell to the ground, police said Polk continued to shoot him several more times and then he ran north on Ocean Drive.
According to Miami Beach police, the shooting happened on Sunday, March 19, at 3:29 a.m.
Investigators said 11 .40 caliber casings were found at the crime scene and that the gun the suspect dropped was a stolen semi-automatic handgun.
The victim was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said.
Once in custody, Polk was transported to the Ryder Trauma Center after complaining he had pain from a pre-existing gunshot wound. He was eventually released and was transported to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
The shooting happened less than 48 hours after another person was killed and another wounded during the busy Spring Break season.