What to Know
- Video shot by a motorist shows the police cruiser, followed by a Nissan Altima, weaving in and out of traffic lanes on I-75 Northbound.
- A Miramar police officer and her live-in boyfriend were involved in a domestic dispute at their Hialeah home before she left for works.
- Roberto Zaldivar was arrested Monday on charges of battery by strangulation and burglary with assault or battery.
A Miramar police officer who was captured on video zigzagging through traffic on a busy South Florida highway was being pursued by the father of her children after she escaped from the couple’s home following a domestic disturbance, authorities said Monday.
Footage recorded on another driver’s dashboard camera shows the officer's police cruiser weaving in and out of traffic lanes on I-75 Northbound shortly before 3 p.m. Saturday. A gold Nissan Altima can be seen chasing her car at a high speed — at one point accelerating so fast that smoke could be seen coming from the Nissan's tires.
The car eventually cuts off the police cruiser and slows down before the video ends. According to Plantation resident Austin Conley, who captured the video, both cars then pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway.
“To me, by everything that I observed, they knew each other by the way the officer reacted, the way the driver of the sedan reacted,” Conley said. “I guess that’s what made my alarm raise even more because it was an unusual situation."
A Florida Highway Patrol report released Monday said the officer and her live-in partner, identified as 24-year-old Roberto Zaldivar, were involved in a domestic dispute at their Hialeah home before she left for work.
Zaldivar followed the officer and at one point sideswiped her cruiser when she tried to exit the highway before he fled the scene, the FHP report said. She was not injured and reported the incident when she got to work.
"Unfortunately, domestic violence is prevalent in every community and affects people regardless of their age, gender, socio-economic status, race or religion — and in this case their employment. Police officers are not immune to being victims of domestic abuse," Miramar Police said in a statement, adding they have offered victim services to the officer involved.
Zaldivar was arrested Monday on charges of battery by strangulation and burglary with assault or battery. He is currently being held on $20,000 bond.