Man steals woman’s car after fleeing hospital psychiatric hold: Hialeah police

A man forced himself into a woman’s car in the Palmetto General Hospital parking lot Thursday morning after fleeing the facility where he was brought under an involuntary psychiatric hold, Hialeah police say.

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A Miami-Dade sheriff’s deputy had brought the man to the hospital under Florida’s Baker Act, which allows authorities to place people experiencing mental-health emergencies under involuntary psychiatric care for up to 72 hours.

After the deputy left the hospital, at 2001 West 68th Street, he ran away, said Hialeah police spokesman Lt. Eddie Rodriguez, emphasizing the man did not escape the deputy’s custody.

When he reached the parking lot, he ran up to a woman getting out of her car and forced himself inside and drove off, Rodriguez said. There were no reported injuries, according to police.

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The Florida Highway Patrol confirmed that a driver whom troopers stopped later in the afternoon near Northwest 79th Street and 17th Avenue using the PIT maneuver — using the front of their cruisers to disable a car — was a suspect wanted by Hialeah police.

Hialeah police did not immediately respond when asked if the driver was the man who stole the car from the hospital.

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This story will be updated.

This story was originally published September 24, 2026 at 1:02 PM.