Bodycam video shows officers’ chaotic takedown of pickup truck driver seen ramming into cars in lot

By Sheldon Fox, Rubén Rosario

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    SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE, Florida (WSVN) — Officer-worn body camera video shows yet another view of a pickup truck driver’s crash course in a Southwest Miami-Dade parking lot as he attempted to evade police following a high-speed pursuit.

The footage, obtained exclusively by 7News, captured Miami-Dade Police officers’ frustrating attempts to stop motorist Kevin Paul Prater as he turned the lot, located in the area of Southwest 41st Street and 72nd Avenue, into a demolition derby on Wednesday.

Investigators said the wanted suspect turned his vehicle into a weapon to avoid capture.

Hellbent on getting away from authorities, Prater maneuvered the pavement like a bumper car ride, even if it meant busting up his white truck, squad cars and anything in his path.

“Show me your hands! Show me your hands!” an officer yelled as he held a shield in his right hand and a gun in his left.

Prater’s pea-brained plan failed miserably. It ended with him laid up on a stretcher, headed to the hospital, then jail.

The messy chain of events started when members of MDPD’s Priority Response Team went to go arrest Prater, who is wanted for stalking and other offenses.

But the suspect had other ideas. Detectives said he did not cooperate and sped off.

It all led to the parking lot confrontation, when officers caught up with the driver, who appeared to be boxed in.

That’s when the bumper car hysteria started,

Prater rammed an occupied Cadillac SUV, peeled out and went full demolition derby mode, crashing into police cruisers with reckless, lawless abandon.

“Get out!” an officer is heard saying in the bodycam video as he kicked the truck’s passenger side door.

Officers had their guns and other tools at the ready, as they showed restraint with their lives and the lives of others on the line.

Like Prater’s own father, who had a front-row, passenger’s seat to his son’s smashing exploits.

MDPD Detective Andre Martin confirmed the passenger was, indeed, Prater’s dad.

“He was an innocent bystander who was taken along for this ride,” said Martin

But in the end, the dinged-up suspect was cuffed and now faces more serious charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon on a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault on a person 65 or older, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and fleeing and eluding a police officer.

The initial crimes for which Prater was suspected and now charged with are aggravated stalking, written threats to kill or do bodily injury, aggravated cyberstalking and cyber intimidation. Police said they have also charged him with violating probation.

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