A traffic stop is supposed to be the forgettable part of a police officer’s day. The one North Miami Beach officers made didn’t quite stay forgettable for long. Police say the driver they pulled over, 22-year-old Jonathan Rivas-Gonzalez, wouldn’t accept the citation he was being written, and what he allegedly did instead sent the day sideways for several other drivers too.
According to the arrest report, officers had stopped Rivas-Gonzalez while he was driving a white Honda through the area. One officer reported a strong odor of marijuana and asked him to step out. He grew agitated once he was told to sit on the ground, and a search of the floorboard reportedly turned up two glass pipes and two empty baggies.
Things held together only until the officer started filling out the citation. That, police say, is when Rivas-Gonzalez got back to his feet, pushed a second officer clear with both hands, and dropped into the driver’s seat. He accelerated north, cutting between lanes and tailgating the cars ahead of him.
His route ran out near Northeast 18th Road and 185th Street, but he soon ran out of road. That’s where he plowed into a cluster of vehicles there and left the Honda stopped in the middle of the wreckage. He climbed out and tried to keep going on foot. Fortunately, officers were able to bring him to the ground and arrest him.
The Drivers Caught in the Middle and the Subsequent Charges
Drivers around him had no idea what was going on. One of them later said the only thing he understood during the situation was that the other car had hit everyone near it. One vehicle was damaged badly enough to be towed after its airbag deployed, while others were left with dents and scrapes running down their panels.
One of those drivers was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening. Rivas-Gonzalez was checked at a hospital himself before he was booked, and officers reported that he kept resisting on the way in, stiffening up and pulling his arms away as they tried to secure him.
Rivas-Gonzalez was swiftly booked into a Miami-Dade correctional facility on six counts. Those include attempting to elude police after a crash involving injuries or damage, reckless driving with serious bodily injury, fleeing and eluding an officer, battery on a police officer, resisting an officer without violence, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
What do you think? If you were part of the drivers caught in the middle of this situation, how would you react? If your vehicle had been damaged, would you pursue charges? And do you think the traffic stop was the right thing to do in this situation despite exacerbating the collateral damage?