‘Paranoid’ man gets into patrol car asking for help after crack relapse ends in crash
MIAMI — A Miami police officer reported that a 45-year-old man crashed, ran, and got into a marked police patrol car in the Riverside area, screaming, “They are after me, armed with guns and trying to kill me!”
According to the police report, Juan Barcelo had been speeding in a black two-door Infiniti G35 before he “collided” with a curb, “struck a fire hydrant,” and “crashed” into a construction site’s temporary fencing.
The crash was on Sunday evening at Southwest 12th Avenue and Seventh Street, records show.
“I looked in the direction he was pointing … I did not observe anyone chasing,” the police officer wrote, according to the arrest report. Barcelo “opened the front passenger door of my marked police vehicle, entered the front passenger seat, and began screaming for me to leave the immediate area for his safety.”
Barcelo, who lives in Miami’s Flagami neighborhood and has a criminal record, was behind bars on Tuesday, facing a felony cocaine possession charge and three misdemeanors, according to inmate records.
The police officer reported Barcelo emitted “a strong chemical odor consistent with burnt crack cocaine … a fruity odor consistent with an alcoholic beverage,” and had a “burnt crack pipe,” a “rock” of crack cocaine, and an empty wine bottle in the Infiniti G35, records show.
Before his arrest shortly before 7 p.m., Barcelo also told Miami Fire Rescue personnel that it was the first time he had used crack cocaine in four years, according to the arrest report.
“Field sobriety exercises were not administered” because of Barcelo’s “highly combative and paranoid state,” the police officer wrote, according to the arrest report.
Miami-Dade corrections booked Barcelo shortly before 6:05 a.m. on Monday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, according to inmate records.
Court records show Barcelo was last arrested for cocaine possession in 2016 in Miami and was on probation until 2018.
Barcelo appeared in bond court on Monday night. He also had a pending warrant case for DUI with damage to property or person. A judge set his bond at $3,600.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge Lody Jean was set to preside over the new felony case.
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