{"id":402083,"date":"2026-09-17T01:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402083\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T01:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T01:46:09","slug":"man-honored-by-miami-police-after-rescuing-woman-from-violent-attack-wsvn-7news-miami-news-weather-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/402083\/","title":{"rendered":"Man honored by Miami Police after rescuing woman from violent attack – WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports"},"content":{"rendered":"

MIAMI (WSVN) – The City of Miami Police Department honored a 25-year-old man with a \u2018hero award\u2019 after he rescued a woman<\/a> from a violent assault in May.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, applause filled the police department as officers honored Cassius Bythewood for his courage and service to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout hesitation, he confronted the attacker, despite knowing he was armed,\u201d said Miami Police spokesperson\u00a0Kiara Delva. \u201c\u2026You are truly deserving of this hero award for your service to the community\u2026Thank you and congratulations.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victim, Caitlin Dydzuhn, was out walking her dog just steps from the Kaseya Center in Downtown Miami when police say a man, 49-year-old Raydean Johnson, began beating the woman<\/a> and stabbing at her face.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy last memory was screaming for my life, kind of blocking punches and stab wounds, and feeling that nobody was coming to save me,\u201d Dydzuhn said in an interview with 7News.<\/p>\n

That was until hero Bythewood stepped in, fought the attacker, and got Dydzuhn to safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then my next memory after that was Cassius just guiding me to safety and talking to me so patiently and so kindly, being like, \u2018There\u2019s a man here with a weapon. I need to get you out of here,’\u201d said Dydzuhn.<\/p>\n

Bythewood credits his faith, his career in martial arts, and his parents for preparing him for the life-changing moment.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo these officers who come in, day in and day out, and dedicate their lives to keeping the community safe so being a part of that for this ceremony meant a lot to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He referred to the experience as \u201cFight or flight\u201d and said he\u2019s glad his \u201cfight kicked in.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

His mother, Gina Prince-Bythewood, flew cross-country for the award ceremony and proudly stood by.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s surreal to be this proud of my child. I mean, I\u2019ve always been proud of him, but this is such an incredible thing that he did, and I\u2019m just grateful that he was there in the moment and I\u2019m grateful for Caitlin,\u201d said Gina.<\/p>\n

Doctors initially told Dydzuhn that she would never be able to see out of her left eye again following the attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said, you know, \u2018We\u2019re trying to keep your physical eyeball, but don\u2019t plan on seeing out of that eye ever again,\u201d Dydzuhn said. \u201cNow, I have gotten my vision back like fully pretty much.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, she views life through a lens of constant appreciation, and was there to watch the man she credits with saving her life be recognized as a hero.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tremendous courage and not the kind of courage we see in the world often anymore, so for him to be recognized today, it makes me so happy, and he deserves that and much more,\u201d said Dydzuhn.<\/p>\n

The assailant is now facing multiple felony charges, including attempted murder.<\/p>\n

The next court hearing is set for the end of January, with trial set to begin June 1.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Sunbeam Television Corp. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/p>\n

\tJoin our Newsletter for the latest news right to your inbox<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MIAMI (WSVN) – The City of Miami Police Department honored a 25-year-old man with a \u2018hero award\u2019 after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":402084,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[225,227,226],"class_list":["post-402083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hialeah","tag-hialeah","tag-hialeah-headlines","tag-hialeah-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402083"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402083\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}