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Miami Gardens Woman Wanted After Test-Drive Truck Theft, Highway Chase and Hospital Escape
Police are searching for Daniela Aguirre, 24, who allegedly stole a pickup during a dealership test drive, led troopers on a chase, then fled Jackson North Medical Center after a separate armed-patient incident drew her guards away. It's not her first such arrest this year.
MIAMI GARDENS â Police are asking the public for help finding a 24-year-old woman who authorities say stole a pickup truck during a dealership test drive, led state troopers on a highway pursuit, and then slipped out of a hospital while the officers guarding her responded to an armed patient nearby.
Daniela Aguirre was taken into custody Wednesday after the chase but remained at large Thursday, according to Miami Gardens police.
The episode began at 12:48 p.m. Wednesday when officers responded to the 5500 block of the Northwest 826 exit ramp at 163rd Street, where someone had taken a vehicle from a dealership for a test drive and never returned, police said.
The truck was later spotted heading east on the Palmetto Expressway (State Road 826) near the Northwest 57th Avenue exit, prompting a pursuit by Florida Highway Patrol troopers and local police.
Aguirre was eventually detained and taken to Jackson North Medical Center to be treated for injuries authorities did not describe.
Hours later, police said, another patient at the hospital who was armed fired a weapon. The troopers assigned to Aguirre left her room to respond to the threat. When they returned, her room was empty.
"She was no longer in the room and had fled the hospital," police said.
Officers set up a perimeter around the hospital but were unable to locate her.
The case echoes an earlier arrest. Authorities said Aguirre was taken into custody earlier this year after she allegedly stole a Dodge Ram from a Miami-Dade County dealership during a test drive â arriving at that dealership in a Ford Fusion that had itself been reported stolen, according to an arrest report.
In that case she was booked on two counts of grand theft of a vehicle and given an alternate bond of $2,500 on each count.
Police have not said whether the truck recovered Wednesday was connected to any particular dealership, nor have they released further details about the injuries Aguirre was treated for or the armed-patient incident that preceded her escape.
Anyone with information about her whereabouts is urged to contact Miami Gardens police or Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers.