Police body camera footage shows the moments a driver struck an officer with his vehicle and drove away early Friday in Miramar.
Johnny Lee Morris Jr., 20, was charged with aggravated battery of a law enforcement officer, leaving the scene of an accident and providing a false name to law enforcement, according to the Miramar Police Department. Attorney information was not available.
Police say the male officer tried to pull over a reckless driver at around 4:30 a.m. The officer later spotted the driver in a shopping center near the 6200 block of Miramar Parkway.
In the bodycam footage released by Miramar police, the officer is heard questioning Morris, asking why he sped past him with his vehicle's back lights out. Morris apologizes and explains he was talking to his girlfriend while taking her to get something to eat.
After the officer asks for Morris' first name, the audio in the footage cuts out for a couple of seconds and then comes back on when the officer asks Morris for a valid I.D. Morris says his I.D. is in the car and asks he could go get it, but the officer tells him to have a seat on the hood of his police car. Morris apologizes again and goes over to the officer's vehicle.
Morris is seen apologizing and asking if he did anything wrong, and the officer tells him to relax and "hang out."
As the officer talks into his police radio, Morris suddenly gets up and runs to the driver's seat of his vehicle. The officer runs after him and manages to whip the door open but Morris continues driving and doesn't stop. The vehicle brakes squeal and the car is heard speeding away. The officer falls to the ground.
The officer, described as a two year veteran of the department, was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries to both legs.
Officials have not released his identity.
