A Miami man accused of slamming his BMW into an occupied detective’s car and speeding away from a June traffic stop has finally been caught, more than two months after he vanished on foot near Biscayne Boulevard. U.S. Marshals arrested 25-year-old Celestino Ayala Jr. in New Orleans on Monday, and he has since been extradited back to Florida to face charges tied to the ramming incident.
According to WSVN, Miami police tactical robbery detectives were surveilling Ayala’s BMW on June 16 near Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 85th Street after the vehicle had been linked to an armed robbery investigated by the Seminole Tribe Police Department, police said. When detectives attempted to stop the car, investigators said Ayala reversed directly into an occupied detective’s vehicle, creating enough space to escape and drive away from the attempted stop.
Miami police pursued the BMW, per the arrest report, but Ayala eventually abandoned the car near Northwest Fifth Court and 81st Street and ran on foot. Officers set up a perimeter in the area but were unable to find him that night, leaving him at large for weeks as the case against him mounted.
A Tribal Police Lead That Triggered Surveillance
The Seminole Tribe Police Department, which operates as a sovereign tribal law enforcement agency in Florida with full police authority across tribal lands and properties, frequently coordinates multi-jurisdictional investigations with municipal and county departments, according to the Tampa Bay Times. That kind of cross-agency work is reportedly what put Ayala’s BMW on Miami police’s radar in the first place, tying an armed robbery probe to the tactical surveillance that preceded the June 16 confrontation…