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OFFICER SHAQ STRIKES AGAIN: Miami Heat center-slash-reserve cop helps police nab hit-and-run driver.
*He may not be healthy enough yet to resume his day job as center for the defending NBA champion Miami Heat, but Shaquille O’Neal put in some work for his side gig early Sunday by helping police capture a hit-and-run driver.
The reserve Miami Beach police officer had just returned to Miami from the team’s 100-97 loss in Chicago. According to reports, he was unloading luggage at about 4 a.m. with his bodyguard Jerome Crawford just outside of Crawford’s home in Coconut Grove when a car driven by 18-year-old Emmnueo Cibrin veered into O'Neal's parked 2007 Cadillac Escalade.
In a scene right out of a 70s cop show, Shaq and his sidekick Crawford jumped into the damaged SUV and followed the perpetrator for about five minutes before catching up with him and passenger Junior Rondon.
Rondon later told the Miami Herald that they were too scared to pull over after seeing the Escalade in the rear view mirror. When they finally stopped, Rondon said he was shocked to see the famous 7-foot-1 athlete emerge from the vehicle.
"I couldn't believe that," Rondon said. "Of all the people. I mean, damn. …He told us to shut up. 'He said, 'I don't want to talk to you right now.'"
O'Neal, 34, waved over a nearby police officer, Rondon said, and police cited Cibrin for leaving the scene of an accident.
