Police say the driver fled a traffic stop, hit a cruiser and snapped a pole, cutting power in the Miami neighborhood.
MIAMI, FL — Miami police opened an investigation Tuesday after a stolen Ferrari crashed in Brickell, striking a police cruiser and slamming into a utility pole during a failed traffic stop early in the morning near Southwest 2nd Avenue, authorities said.
Police said the incident began after a woman reported her Ferrari stolen and the vehicle’s tracker pinged in the Brickell area. Officers converged on the signal and watched someone get into the car and drive off. When they tried to pull the driver over, the person sped away and lost control, clipping a marked cruiser and shredding a utility pole. The crash sparked outages to nearby buildings and forced street closures while Florida Power & Light crews made repairs. The driver was taken to a hospital with a laceration and is expected to be booked after treatment, police said. The person’s name was not released.
Residents in several high-rises reported lights flickering and an abrupt blackout as the crash sent sparks into the air shortly after dawn. “All of my lights turned super bright and then everything just shut off,” Brickell resident Robert Brand said, recalling how he stepped onto his balcony and saw a car crumpled against the lines. Police said the collision snapped the pole in two and left debris across the roadway. By midmorning, officers kept the scene taped off while tow trucks removed the wreckage and utility crews secured dangling lines and replaced damaged hardware.
Investigators said the Ferrari had been reported stolen earlier Tuesday and that responding officers located it near the tracker’s last ping in the corridor around Southwest 2nd Avenue. As officers attempted a traffic stop, the driver accelerated, struck a cruiser, then slammed into the pole, according to police. Video from nearby cameras shows a bright flash and a shower of sparks as the car hits the pole and comes to a rest. Police did not immediately specify the speed involved or release a detailed timeline down to the minute. They said no officers or bystanders were seriously hurt. The condition of the driver beyond the initial injury was not immediately clear.
Miami Beach police are also reviewing reports tied to the theft. The owner told officers two luxury vehicles—a late-model Ferrari and a Rolls-Royce SUV—had been picked up by a transportation company in Miami Beach and were supposed to be delivered to a business but never arrived, according to initial statements relayed to authorities. Hours later, the Ferrari surfaced in Brickell through a location ping. Whether the Rolls-Royce has been recovered was not immediately known. The exact Ferrari model involved in the crash was not confirmed by investigators on Tuesday.
Brickell, one of Miami’s busiest residential and financial districts, has a tight grid of streets where early-morning traffic mixes with construction deliveries and commuters headed to the Metrorail and office towers. Crashes that damage poles or equipment can cause cascading outages in towers that depend on large electrical feeds. Tuesday’s collision led to limited but noticeable disruptions, with elevator service briefly halted in some buildings and traffic lights out at nearby intersections. Police redirected drivers around the scene while utility contractors worked at the base of the broken pole and along the line span.
Police said traffic homicide investigators and crash reconstruction specialists documented skid marks, impact points and the vehicle’s onboard data to determine speed and braking before the collision. Detectives will review surveillance footage collected from nearby properties and consider potential charges that could include grand theft of a motor vehicle, fleeing and eluding, and property damage. The driver, whose identity had not been released by Tuesday afternoon, will be booked into custody after being medically cleared, police said. Authorities did not announce an exact time for a charging decision.
Florida Power & Light said crews isolated the damaged segment and rerouted service while a replacement pole and hardware were installed. Outages affected a relatively small number of customers in the immediate area, according to preliminary estimates, and most service was restored in stages as repairs progressed. City public works staff inspected sidewalks and landscaping near the pole base for damage. Police said they would keep part of the street closed until all overhead hazards were removed and the crash debris fully cleared.
Witnesses described a brief surge and then darkness as the Ferrari hit the pole. “You could hear the tires squeal and then a pop like a transformer,” said Mariela Ortiz, who was walking her dog along a nearby block. A store manager opening a coffee shop said they delayed service while waiting for refrigeration and point-of-sale systems to reboot. A rideshare driver stuck at the perimeter said officers redirected traffic down alternate streets as tow operators prepared to lift the wreckage.
As of Tuesday afternoon, police had not released the driver’s name or said whether anyone else was in the car. The investigation remains active, with reconstruction work and interviews ongoing. Utility replacements and cleanup are expected to continue through the day, with all lanes anticipated to reopen after crews finish overhead work and safety checks.
Author note: Last updated December 16, 2025.