A 36-year-old Miami man was arrested Tuesday after police said he stole a marked Miami Police Department patrol vehicle while the sergeant assigned to it was inside a convenience store. Police identified the suspect as Rodne Joseph, of Miami.
The theft began around 1:20 p.m. near Northeast Second Avenue and Northeast 55th Terrace, near the Little Haiti neighborhood. The sergeant had parked the car and gone into a nearby store. When he came back, the vehicle was gone. He searched the area and then reported the theft over police radio.
About five minutes later, officers helping with the search learned the car had last been seen heading north near Northeast 77th Street. Detectives later reviewed surveillance footage that showed a man approaching the driver’s side door before the vehicle drove off.
Around 3 p.m., a North Miami officer found the patrol car unoccupied at 527 NE 137th St. The vehicle still contained a police-issued rifle and a bulletproof vest. About 15 minutes later, a Miami sergeant spotted a man who matched the description and detained him.
Joseph was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor hand injuries, which police said were already present before detectives made contact with him. He faces charges of grand theft of a vehicle, depriving an officer of means of protection, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and grand theft of a firearm. As of Wednesday morning he was held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, and jail records listed his bond as “to be set.”
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