Miami Beach police officer slashed badly during deadly encounter, needs help, police say

Charles Rabin
·1 min read

A Miami Beach police officer who was cut during a knife attack last month suffered more serious wounds than originally believed and the police department is asking the public to help with the family’s expenses.

In an email sent to media outlets on Thursday, Miami Beach police spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said Officer Ricardo Castillo has a long road to recovery and that his wife, who is eight months pregnant, had to stop working to care for the family’s 10-month-old infant.

“The Miami Beach Fraternal Order of Police has arranged for donations due to the financial impacts he and his family are experiencing,” Rodriguez said. Anyone wishing to donate can do so on the group’s website.

Castillo and his family have refused requests for interviews.

Officer Ricardo Castillo suffered wounds in a knife attack that were more serious than was originally thought, said a Miami Beach police spokesman.
Officer Ricardo Castillo suffered wounds in a knife attack that were more serious than was originally thought, said a Miami Beach police spokesman.

Castillo suffered deep gashes to his arm and leg on Jan. 18 and has been hospitalized since then. On that day, police converged on Ryan O. Simms on the east side of Ocean Drive just across the street from the Clevelander South Beach Hotel and Bar. Cellphone video captured by a bystander showed an officer using his electronic Taser on Simms before he fell to the ground. It then showed officers rushing toward Simms and quickly backing away before firing their weapons.

Simms was killed. Before his encounter with police, surveillance video showed Simms standing in front of Mango’s Tropical Cafe a couple of blocks south of where he was shot and waving a large blade back and forth as tourists passed by. A worker there notified police, who trailed Simms north to the spot where he was killed.