Watch Fla. Police Save Hostages Held at Knife-Point by Escaped Inmate
Florida authorities released body camera footage of police saving two people who were being held at knife-point in a horrifying hostage situation last year.
On July 27, 2023, Miami Beach police responded to a report of a man holding a store employee and a teenage girl hostage inside a Victoria's Secret, WSVN-TV reports. Once they arrived at the scene, officers found a man—identified as Darian Young, an escaped New Hampshire inmate—had the employee and the teen in a chokehold, and police ordered him to drop his knife.
As the man continued to threaten the women, officers tried to de-escalate the situation.
“I swear to God, you’re going to be fine if you just drop the knife,” one officer is heard telling the suspect in body camera footage.
But when the man dragged the hostages into a corner, Officer Cory Jackson fatally shot the suspect. An investigation determined that Jackson had been justified in his actions.
“He had to make a split-second decision,” Robert Hernandez, president of Miami Beach’s Fraternal Order of Police, said at the time. “He saved the young girl’s life. It was heroic.”
The employee and the teen were uninjured in the incident.
“I would like to accentuate Officer Corey Jackson’s courageous actions," Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones said in a statement. "(They) were instrumental in preserving the lives of two hostages.”
