{"id":194128,"date":"2026-03-16T22:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/194128\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T22:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T22:46:11","slug":"video-shows-how-eagle-1-drone-helped-miami-beach-police-during-pursuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/194128\/","title":{"rendered":"Video shows how Eagle 1 drone helped Miami Beach police during pursuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph\">MIAMI BEACH, Fla.  \u2014 Jirell Thomas probably hoped no one was watching when he threw a gun in the bushes while trying to get away in South Beach, according to police. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">The Miami Beach Police Department\u2019s Eagle 1 drone had its focus on Thomas, 38, after he fled during a traffic stop on Saturday afternoon in Ocean Drive, and almost ran over pedestrians, police said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cOur drone identified the location of this vehicle, relayed real-time information to the boots on the ground,\u201d said Officer Christopher Bess, a spokesman for MBPD.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Thomas, a convicted felon from Minnesota, jumped out of a black Dodge Durango with dark-tinted windows as a passenger who was with him drove away, according to police officers. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">\u201cThe subject had no idea the drone was overhead. He ditched a firearm, walked very casually before our detectives took him down,\u201d Bess said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Undercover detectives who were nearby arrested Thomas. Miami-Dade correctional deputies booked him shortly before 2:30 a.m. on Sunday at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph\">Thomas faced three charges: Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, fleeing and eluding police, and resisting an officer without violence. He also had a warrant case for reckless driving. His bond was $10,650. <\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph b-article-body__copyright\">Copyright 2026 by WPLG Local10.com &#8211; All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI BEACH, Fla. \u2014 Jirell Thomas probably hoped no one was watching when he threw a gun in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194129,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[123,125,124],"class_list":["post-194128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194128\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}