Police: Man with 132 page rap sheet take Florida police on four county chase

Martin County Sheriff's deputies say a man is in custody, suspected of shooting at a police officer and leading law enforcement on a chase through three counties.

Deputies say the suspect is 36-year-old Samal Hammond.

A Martin County Sheriff's Office spokesperson says Hammond shot at a police officer in the Miami-Dade area.

He was pursued by officers, driving through Broward County, Palm Beach County then Martin County before he was stopped through the use of "stop sticks" in the northbound lanes of Interstate 95 near the Kanner Highway exit.

"We have a lot of collateral damage... I don't know how many vehicles hit the stop sticks. And matter of fact, we have law enforcement vehicles that hit the stop sticks," said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.

Deputies say armed SWAT team members tried to get him out of the car, and Hammond refused to surrender.

After a 45 minute standoff on the highway, Hammond was convinced to surrender by police according to Scripps sister station, News Channel 5, WPTV.

Fortunately no one was injured.

"It did look like we had one of those classic situations where the suspect looked like he wanted the police to kill him," said Snyder.

The incident started before midnight late Friday.  Hammond was arrested at 1:40 a.m. Saturday.

Investigators said police found a woman screaming in the road between Miami Gardens Drive and Ives Dairy Road.

When they arrived they say Hammond pulled out a gun and exchanged fire with a sargent.

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder confirms that no officer was hurt in the exchange.According to Christine Weiss, spokeswoman for the Martin County Sheriff's office, the photo of Hammond shown was taken during questioning because he refused to have his picture taken earlier.

Weiss says Hammond has a 132-page rap sheet and is currently being questioned.

Martin County will charge Hammond with possession of a stolen vehicle and with providing false information to law enforcement.

Once his questioning is complete, Hammond will be booked in the Martin County jail.

He will eventually be transferred back to Miami-Dade county to face their charges.

Law enforcement officers in the three counties are currently working jointly on the case.