A Florida police officer is recovering in a local hospital after a 38-year-old man dragged the officer for about a half-mile from the door frame of his car Tuesday morning.
Thomas Cabrera, from Pembroke Pines, Florida, is now facing a charge of attempted murder of a law enforcement officer for the whole incident, which was caught on dramatic bodycam footage.
Jon Cusack, a 19-year veteran of the Pembroke Pines Police Department, is seen on the footage approaching a vehicle in a parking lot to check on the driver after police were called about a possible drug overdose. The driver, who police allege is Cabrera, wakes up and immediately starts to drive away.
Cusack, 47, can be seen in his bodycam footage clinging to the driver’s side door as Cabrera speeds off, eventually reaching 60 mph, according to the police report. The driver attempts to ram a fire emergency vehicle, all while Cusack clings to the side, before the officer eventually releases his grip and tumbles off the side of the road.
Police said Cabrera then led police on a chase, reaching speeds of 100 mph, and even using heroin while driving, according to the police report, before he was eventually apprehended in busy morning traffic on I-595.
A female passenger has not been charged, police said.
The officer suffered road rash over much of his body and the soles of his boots were completely burned off, but he is expected to make a full recovery.
“He’s doing very, very good — good spirits. His wife and three kids are there, so he’s in good spirits,” Broward Police Benevolent Association president Jeff Marano told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.
“They have a trip planned to go to Disney this weekend and he’s still going to go,” Marano said.
