Man Dies After Swallowing Cocaine During a Traffic Stop

Cocaine: not for eating.

​In today's roundup of the sins of South Beach and the rest of Miami-Dade: The death of a man in police custody is blamed on desperate cocaine ingestion, two separate shootings are being investigated, a string of car break-ins is being questioned, and a boat fire sends one man to the hospital.

Yesterday it was reported that a man mysteriously died while in the custody of Miami Beach Police. Today details have emerged.

Twenty-one-year-old Rodrigo Alfonso Cestti was driving a white Nissan Maxima in Normandy Isles when he was pulled over in a routine traffic stop. Cestti wasn't so much worrying about whether he had run a red light or sped as he was about the stash of cocaine in his car.

To prevent the cops from finding it, he ate it. He eventually got out of the car and collapsed. He later died. Police arrested another man in the car, 25-year-old Dennis Rodriguez, who was wanted in connection with a previous shooting. [Herald]

• A total of 16 vehicles were broken into last night in North Miami, all within a one-mile area. Police say the perpetrators smashed the windows and grabbed whatever they could find. [CBS4]
• A man was shot in the chest after arguing with a woman in Southwest Miami-Dade. The report doesn't indicate if the woman shot him or her relation to the man. He is recovering. [JustNews]
• A drive-by shooting claimed the life of a man in Miami Gardens. Two men in a white van are believed to be responsible. [WSVN]
• A boat fire earlier this morning sent one man to the hospital in North Miami. [WSVN]