Martin Vassolo and Devoun Cetoute
Miami Herald
MIAMI BEACH — A man with a knife stabbed a Miami Beach Police officer in South Beach on Saturday night.
The officer was responding to a call for service near the Clevelander South Beach Hotel on Ocean Drive and 10th Street just after 9 p.m. when he was stabbed multiple times.
Officers opened fire on the man, who was listed in critical condition early Sunday morning. He and the officer were transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital. The officer was undergoing surgery after midnight on Sunday. Police did not release the names of the officer or the person involved in the shooting.
The officer had been patrolling the popular beach-front promenade as part of the department’s Operation Safe Streets initiative, a campaign to increase police visibility in the Entertainment District, said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber.
Gelber, who visited the officer at Jackson Memorial Hospital, said the officer appeared to be in good spirits as he spoke with his family and friends at the hospital.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will investigate the shooting, per Miami Beach Police policy. Vehicle and pedestrian traffic is restricted along Ocean Drive between 9th and 11th streets.