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Updated May 13, 2026
Dash camera footage from a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser shows the moment a Hialeah man wanted on four warrants was taken into custody after a grappler device stopped the car he was driving.
Raul Gil, 37, was arrested Sept. 15 after refusing to pull over for police near East Eighth Avenue and Hialeah Drive. The video captures the final seconds of the pursuit: the grappler grabbing the rear wheel of Gil’s car, the vehicle coming to a stop, and officers moving in to make the arrest.
Gil is now facing several charges, including eluding police, grand theft and reckless driving. According to the arrest report, he also had four active warrants at the time of the stop — three for grand theft and one for battery.
The encounter began when a Florida Highway Patrol trooper on patrol was notified by Hialeah Police about Gil. Authorities said Gil had fled Miami Springs Police just days earlier. He was also accused of running from Hialeah Police weeks before that.
When Hialeah officers spotted Gil’s vehicle, they attempted to make a traffic stop. Gil did not comply. Instead, he drove away, and the trooper followed at a distance.
The dashcam video shows the grappler being deployed while both vehicles were moving. The device caught the rear tire of Gil’s car, and the vehicle quickly came to a halt. Several other police cruisers then pulled in around the car, and officers ordered Gil to get out.
Gil initially refused. A trooper then broke the driver-side window. Gil got out of the car and was taken into custody without further incident.
At his court appearance in September, Judge Mindy S. Glazer reviewed the arrest and reacted to the tactic on camera.
“That was pretty cool,” Glazer said. “The police used a grabber police bumper and was able to catch his tire and stop his car.”
Glazer set bail at $12,500.
The device used in the stop is known as the Grappler. It is mounted to the front of a patrol vehicle and deploys a Kevlar net attached to a cable. When the net wraps around a fleeing car’s tire, the vehicle is forced to slow down and eventually stop.
Law-enforcement agencies have increasingly turned to the tool as an alternative to high-speed pursuit tactics such as PIT maneuvers or spike strips. Grapplers are designed to reduce the risk of crashes during a chase while allowing officers to take a suspect into custody safely.
In this case, the grappler ended what could have become a longer pursuit through Hialeah streets. The dashcam video provided a clear view of how quickly the tactic can change the outcome of a police stop.
Under Florida law, fleeing or attempting to elude a law enforcement officer is a serious offense, and the charge becomes more severe when a driver operates the vehicle recklessly during the flight. Gil’s arrest report includes both eluding and reckless driving, which means prosecutors could pursue enhanced penalties if the case goes to trial.
The existing warrants also carried weight in the case. Three of the four warrants involved grand theft, a felony-level charge in Florida. The remaining warrant was for battery. Those warrants, combined with the new charges from the Sept. 15 pursuit, formed the basis for the $12,500 bond set by the judge.
Gil’s case drew attention in part because of the judge’s unusually direct comments during the hearing. Judges rarely comment on the technology used in an arrest, and Glazer’s description of the grappler as “pretty cool” offered a memorable moment inside the courtroom.
The footage also highlights a broader shift in how police agencies handle vehicle pursuits. Instead of continuing a chase until a driver runs out of road, officers can now use tools that physically bring a suspect’s vehicle to a stop. The grappler is one of the more visible examples of that trend, and the Hialeah video shows it being used in real time.
Hialeah Police and the Florida Highway Patrol have not released additional details about the pursuit beyond the arrest report. The report describes Gil’s decision to flee, the trooper’s use of the grappler, and the arrest that followed.
The case remains in the Miami-Dade court system, where judges will continue to review the evidence, including the dashcam video. Defense attorneys had not been listed in the initial court records reviewed for this update.
For now, the footage stands as the clearest account of what happened on the road that day. It shows a wanted driver trying to get away, a trooper using a tire-capture device to end the escape, and officers completing an arrest without turning the stop into a drawn-out highway chase.
Gil, who is expected to appear in court again as the case moves forward, faces legal exposure from both the new charges and the prior warrants. His bond was set at $12,500, and a judge will determine any additional conditions during future proceedings.
