A woman riding an electric scooter on the sidewalk near 71st Street and Bay Drive East was pinned underneath a Jeep several feet from where the vehicle struck her Tuesday, and Miami Beach police officers pulled her free using a car jack and quick thinking. She is expected to recover from injuries that were not life-threatening, according to police.
The crash happened outside a Marathon gas station when a blue Jeep making a right turn to head west on 71st Street struck the woman as she rode her scooter along the sidewalk, according to WSVN. The collision ejected her from the scooter, and she ended up trapped underneath the Jeep, several feet from the point of impact.
One responding officer used a jack to raise the vehicle while another stayed close to the woman, talking with her to keep her calm as the rescue unfolded. Officers ultimately lifted the vehicle off her and freed her from beneath it, per the same account. The driver of the Jeep received a citation for causing the crash.
Officers Praised for Training and Communication
Miami Beach Police Department officials commended the officers who helped rescue the woman, praising them for immediately acting to save a life. Christopher Bess said the officers relied on their training and communication to guide the victim through the ordeal and avoid causing her further harm, the outlet reports.
First responders transported the woman to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital, the only American College of Surgeons-verified Level 1 adult trauma center in Miami-Dade County, according to Jackson Health System. The center treats more than 5,000 emergency patients a year and features rooftop helipad-to-resuscitation elevators that operate in 15 seconds, making it the destination for the county's most critical trauma cases.
A Familiar Stretch of Road
This is not the first time the 71st Street corridor has drawn scrutiny for traffic safety. In March, a driver heading east on 71st Street turned onto Collins Avenue without headlights and struck two pedestrians, killing both, as Hoodline previously reported. In November, body camera footage released by police showed an officer suffering a hairline elbow fracture near 71st Street after an electric scooter rider struck him and fled the scene.
Under Florida Statute § 316.2128, electric scooters are classified as micromobility devices, giving riders the same statutory rights and duties on public pathways as bicyclists under a related state law, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. Separately, Florida Statute § 316.130(7) requires drivers making turns across sidewalks or crosswalks to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians and other lawful users, a provision cited by attorneys at DeLoach, Hofstra & Cavonis, P.A. as the kind of statute that applies when a turning motorist strikes a sidewalk scooter rider.
Part of a Broader Safety Push
The Miami Beach Police Department has run an ongoing RideSafeMB public safety campaign urging micromobility users to stay in designated lanes, yield to pedestrians, and follow traffic signals. The department patrols an 18.7-square-mile coastal jurisdiction split into North Beach, Mid Beach, and South Beach districts, headquartered at 1100 Washington Avenue, according to background compiled on the department's structure.
Tuesday's crash adds to a string of scooter-related incidents in Miami Beach over the past year. In May, a 25-year-old scooter rider was struck and killed by a motor vehicle while riding to work in the city. Similar dangers have surfaced elsewhere in Miami-Dade County, including a fatal electric scooter collision in Little Havana that Hoodline reported on in July.
Open questions remain about the exact speed of the Jeep as it turned into the gas station entryway, whether the scooter rider was using headlights or other safety gear, and whether the cited driver could face additional administrative or criminal consequences depending on the final crash investigation report.
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