Car-jacker arrested after police chase

MIAMI (WSVN) -- A police chase ended with an alleged car-jacker in custody.

Authorities said the subject allegedly stole a black Mercedes Benz near Florida International University Wednesday afternoon. An FIU officer spotted the vehicle and notified police. A police chase ensued eastbound on 836. At one point, officers tried to pull over the vehicle, but the subject fled as the officer approached the stolen car.

After the chase with police, the subject ditched the vehicle in front of an abandoned home in the area of Northwest 32nd Street and Ninth Avenue and fled. The whole ordeal came to an end with an arrest in the backyard of a South Florida home.

One witness described the scene of the arrest. "He jumped out of the car, and he came running, and then he ran in our yard, jumped the gate, and he was over here. Then the police came over here, and they asked me, did I see him, is he in our backyard? He started going through all our cars and stuff, so then they caught him over here," he said.

Jose De Diego Middle School, located at 3100 NW 5 Ave., was placed on lockdown for a brief time, but the lockdown was lifted soon after the police captured the subject.

(Copyright 2009 by Sunbeam Television Corp. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)