Background: Old Meridian Street in Carmel, Indiana (Google Maps). Inset: Daniel Castillo (Hamilton County (Ind.) Jail).
A man who reportedly stalked a woman in Indiana — sending threatening texts and pounding incessantly on the door of her apartment — before driving into a cop car and taking gunfire from police will not have to spend time behind bars.
Daniel Castillo, 24, originally from New Mexico, was accused of showing up at a woman’s apartment in Carmel, a suburban city north of Indianapolis, and repeatedly pounding on her front door. According to local Fox affiliate WXIN, police were alerted to the incident after a 911 call made at 7:48 p.m. on Aug. 12, 2024.
In addition to showing up at the victim’s apartment, Castillo was alleged to have sent her threatening phone messages. As WXIN reported, citing court documents, Castillo’s text messages included the threats “I can’t wait till you die” and “I hope you die slow.” He also allegedly called her phone more than 190 times in four hours.
When police arrived at the apartment complex, they reportedly found Castillo in his car on the third floor of the apartment’s parking garage, with Castillo still inside the vehicle. He allegedly refused to get out of his car after he was ordered to by police — and at one point drove forward and hit one of the Carmel Police Department’s SUVs.
Police officers fired into Castillo’s car in response. According to WXIN, Castillo was injured, but not critically.
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Court records show that on Wednesday he pleaded guilty to four charges: criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon, resisting law enforcement using a vehicle, aggravated battery posing a substantial risk of death, and harassment by means of a telephone call. He received a 180-day suspended sentence and ordered into an “electric home monitoring program.”
A no-contact order was also issued, and Castillo’s driving privileges are suspended until November, court records show. He was also ordered to pay $605.62 in restitution.
Court records noted that Castillo “has accrued credit for 454 days for 227 actual days served.”
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