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New Orleans man held after Wynwood gun threats, police chase and head-on crash
A 31-year-old Louisiana man with prior armed robbery convictions is accused of pointing a gun at two people in separate Wynwood encounters Saturday night before leading Miami police on a chase that ended in a head-on collision. He faces seven charges and remains jailed at TGK.
MIAMI â A 31-year-old New Orleans man remained jailed Monday after police said he threatened two people with a gun in separate Wynwood encounters Saturday night and then led officers on a pursuit that ended in a head-on crash.
Tre Najai Spadoni was arrested Saturday night after a Miami police officer on routine patrol spotted a white, two-door Chevrolet Silverado that matched the description of a truck tied to the earlier assaults, according to arrest reports. He faces seven charges across three affidavits: two counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon or firearm, two counts of improper exhibition of a firearm, one count of armed criminal mischief involving damage of $1,000 or more, one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer.
The first encounter happened around 8 p.m. near Northwest Fifth Avenue and Northwest 27th Street, police said. A woman told investigators she was driving south when a man in a white pickup abruptly turned in front of her, nearly causing a collision. She said she drove around the truck, stopped in front of it and got out to confront the driver, who began yelling at her in Spanish. Her friend warned her the driver had a gun, and she then saw the barrel of a gun pointed toward her through the windshield, according to the report.
Police said Spadoni maneuvered around her vehicle and intentionally struck her open driver's-side door before fleeing. The woman followed the truck through Wynwood to try to get its license plate, and the truck eventually entered an alley near North Miami Avenue and Northwest 37th Street. She pulled into a nearby parking lot and called 911. While she was speaking with a dispatcher, Spadoni allegedly pulled alongside her vehicle, pointed a black handgun at her and yelled, "Get off the phone!" She escaped through the passenger-side door and ran, telling investigators the driver kept pointing the gun toward her as he drove. She eventually flagged down a responding officer. A witness corroborated her account, and she gave investigators cellphone video of the truck, the report said.
A second incident occurred around 9 p.m. in the 2000 block of Northwest Miami Court, according to a separate arrest report. A man working on his dark-colored Lamborghini Urus told police a white, two-door Silverado approached. The driver, wearing a dark bucket hat and white tank top, rolled down the passenger-side window and tried to get his attention. When the man approached, the driver â later identified as Spadoni â asked for directions and to borrow his phone, authorities said. The man said he could not help. Spadoni then pointed a silver gun directly at him and said, "I was just trying to get some f***ing help," according to the report, before leaving westbound on Northwest 20th Street. Surveillance footage showed a two-door Silverado stopped in front of the property with the victim near the passenger window, and the victim running away shortly after the interaction, police said.
Around 11 p.m., an officer patrolling Wynwood spotted the Silverado near Northwest First Place and Northwest 23rd Street and began following it while waiting for additional units to conduct a felony traffic stop, a third report states. Police said Spadoni sped up and drove evasively before entering the parking garage of the Sentral Wynwood building. As he tried to park, the officer activated emergency lights and a siren. Instead of stopping, Spadoni pulled out of the space and fled the garage, nearly striking a marked police cruiser, according to the report.
Additional officers joined the pursuit as the truck traveled southbound on Miami Avenue from Northwest 26th Street. Investigators said Spadoni struck multiple vehicles before attempting to turn west onto Northwest 24th Street against the flow of traffic, then collided head-on with oncoming traffic and came to a stop. Officers ordered him out at gunpoint and he complied, authorities said.
During a pat-down search, a black pistol fell from Spadoni, according to the report. Police said a second pistol was recovered and submitted to the department's property and evidence unit. A records check revealed prior convictions for multiple armed robberies, investigators said. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue medics evaluated Spadoni before he was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
On Sunday, detectives conducted additional interviews with both alleged assault victims, and each identified Spadoni in a photographic lineup as the person who pointed a gun at them, according to the affidavits. The reports do not specify whether anyone was injured in the collisions during the chase.
As of Monday afternoon, Spadoni remained held at TGK.