Police Officer Injured in Crash in Hialeah

The crash happened just after 6 a.m. in the area of W. 8th Avenue and 49th Street, police said.

A driver was killed and an officer was seriously injured in a violent crash in Hialeah Friday morning.

Police identified the driver as 36-year-old Amado Arcia Lapido and the officer as Robert Morales, a four-year veteran of the Hialeah Police Department.

The crash happened just after 6 a.m. when the police cruiser and silver Nissan SUV collided in the area of W. 8th Avenue and 49th Street, police said.


Lapido and Morales were taken by air to Jackson Memorial Hospital in serious condition, police said.

Lapido later died at the hospital where loved ones gathered to make funeral preparations.

"Everybody loved him in Cuba and here," said girlfriend Aliuska Garcia, who said Lapido worked at Leon Medical Center.

The officer was in surgery late Friday morning, and was still in serious condition by the afternoon, police said.

Footage showed the police car badly damaged on a sidewalk at the corner of the intersection.

The intersection was closed early Friday as a result of the crash.


The cause of the crash is unknown, but police said an eye-witness driver provided a sworn statement saying the officer had the green light as he entered the intersection.

"We have our investigators here and we're talking to the witnesses and other drivers in the vehicles traveling side by side to the vehicles that were involved in the accident today," Hialeah Police Sgt. Eddie Rodriguez said.

Check back with NBC 6 South Florida and NBC6.com for updates.

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