Road rage in Doral ends with shots, then a car chase down to Florida City, police say

What began as a road rage incident Thursday morning in Doral ended with at least two shots fired at police and a nearly 40-mile chase involving dozens of cop cars to Florida City..

The man suspected in the incident ran away from them at the original scene and tried hiding near stores, said Doral police spokesman Rey Valdes.

“We tried to make a traffic stop; he fled,” Valdes said.

He got into his car and used it to try to run over a Doral officer, said Lt. Alejandro Camacho with the Florida Highway Patrol.

As police chased him onto the Palmetto Expressway and State Road 874, he “lets off two rounds” at the patrol car directly behind him, Camacho said.

The Florida Highway Patrol and Miami-Dade police joined the chase from there. It ended on U.S. 1 in Florida City, right before the 18 Mile Stretch that leads from the mainland into the Florida Keys.

A trooper used what’s known as a PIT maneuver to stop the shooting suspect’s car — tapping the back of a moving car to stop it and spin it.

The move worked for a moment. But after he lost control of his car, which hit a guardrail, he ran away before police quickly captured him, according to the FHP.

“He gets out and gives up,” said Lt. Alejandro Camacho of FHP.

Valdes said police are bringing the man, who has not been named, back to Doral.

Police only had one lane of U.S. 1 closed immediately after the incident ended around 10 a.m., and traffic was not blocked heading into the Keys, Camacho said.