A woman who was beaten and stabbed in broad daylight in what appears to have been a random attack in Miami is sharing her story in the hope that it will spark change. Rather than retreating in silence, she has chosen to speak publicly about what happened to her and to press for measures that might protect others from a similar ordeal.
The victim, 36-year-old Caitlin Dizon, was walking her dog on May 19th when, she says, a man jumped her from behind. He stabbed her with a sharp object and slammed her against the concrete, leaving her with serious injuries that were later documented in photographs of the wounds she suffered during the assault.
Dizon describes fighting for her life during the attack. The outcome could have been far worse, but a good Samaritan stepped in to help her, intervening at a moment when she was struggling against her assailant. That help proved decisive in a situation that had unfolded suddenly and without any apparent provocation.
A suspect was later identified and detained. According to the account, 49-year-old Radine Johnson was eventually taken into custody after a three-hour standoff with officers. The length of that confrontation underlined the difficulty police faced in bringing the episode to a close once they had moved to make the arrest.
Weeks on, Dizon is open about the lasting toll the attack has taken. She says she is nervous and has limited a great deal of her behavior, describing the post-traumatic stress she now lives with as something she expects will take months or even years to work through. The physical wounds, she suggests, are only part of what she has to recover from.
On Monday night she took that message to a meeting in the Brickell area, where she pushed for safety improvements. The gathering focused on possible solutions, and city leaders responded with commitments aimed at reducing the risk of such attacks and at supporting people in crisis before violence occurs.
Commissioners and other officials promised to approve more funding for additional officers downtown and to back the opening of a mental health and recovery center. For her part, Dizon says she has slowed down since the attack and is leaning on the community for support as she works through the long process of healing.