Lawsuits Filed in Fatal Crash Involving Hialeah Police

Last October, the daughter of School Board member Susie Castillo was killed when the SUV she was riding in crashed with an unmarked Hialeah police vehicle.

Her boyfriend, Marcos Barrios, was seriously injured and has since claimed that the police officer was speeding at the time of the accident, and is responsible for the death of Andrea Castillo, 21.

Now, Susie Castillo has filed a suit against the city of Hialeah, and the officer Raul Somarriba. Barrios has also filed a suit against the city.

Castillo’s suit also accuses the Hialeah Fire Department of negligence for not airlifting her daughter to the hospital, as they did for Somarriba.

According to police, Barrios, 23, did not yield at the stop sign, wasn’t wearing his seat belt and claim that the police officer was not speeding. The police report also states that Barrios was believed to have been drinking and was distracted.

However, Barrios said he was wearing his seatbelt, had no alcohol in his system and that he did stop at the stop sign, which is proven by the lag time between surveillance cameras outside the gas station he was leaving.

The officer, Raul Somarriba, has been involved in two other accidents on the job, both minor and neither his fault. However, the lawyer for Barrios believes that a surveillance video and damage to the car proves that the officer was speeding at the time of the crash.

Barrios sustained a shattered pelvis, broken clavicle, cracked ribs and a collapsed lung from the crash. Since the accident, he has been wheelchair bound, in constant pain and has more surgeries lined up to repair his pelvis.

Susie Castillo also released a statement, and stated that she hopes that the those responsible for her daughter’s death are held responsible so that no other family has to go through the pain her family is going through.

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Source: The Florida Herald, “Suits filed in fatal crash involving Hialeah cop,” May 8, 2013.