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Police are investigating a Sunday shooting involving a 22-year-old Temple University student who was fatally shot after striking a Miami police officer with her car.

Cariann Denise Hithon, a Bowie, Maryland resident, was shot by a responding officer after she fled the scene of an accident.

According to NBC Philadelphia, Hithon was driving eastbound down 12th Street and Ocean Drive when she ran a red light in a black BMW, striking two cars.

Cell phone footage posted on Instagram by @mrwelive shows a large crowd surrounding around her car, pleading for her to get out at the instruction of the officers. You can also hear bystanders alleging that Hithon was under the influence of alcohol, but an official autopsy report has not corroborated those claims.

But in the video Hithon abruptly accelerates, striking an officer to the ground. You can hear several shots ring out as the officer’s partner fires into the driver’s window of the car.

Hithon’s car speeds down the street until it hits a parked car on the side of the road further out of the frame. Hithon and the injured officer, identified as David Cajuso, were both rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center, where Hithon later succumbed to her injuries. Cajuso was stabilized and later released, NBC Philadelphia reports.

According to the outlet, Hithon, a Temple University political science and philosophy student, was in Miami celebrating her 22nd birthday.

Hithon’s father spoke with NBC Miami, voicing his shock and disbelief.

“It’s hard to express the amount of pain and distress that we feel,” Cary Hithon, said. “I can’t explain why she wouldn’t have listened.”

SOURCE: NBC Philadelphia, NBC Miami 

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