A
22-year-old lady Cariann Hithon aspiring to be a lawyer was shot and
killed by police after crashing into an officer with her car.
She had been celebrating her birthday when she crashed her black BMW into three vehicles in Miami.
As a crowd gathered around her car to understand whether she was ok,
she started her car again, moved with speed, knocking one Florida police
officer to the ground before another quickly fired three shots at her.
Her car then swerved across the road and crashed.
Ms Hithon was taken to a nearby hospital where she died of her wounds.
The
police officer she hit, David Cajuso, has been released from hospital
and is recovering at home, the Miami Beach police department said.
According to the Miami Herald, investigators believe Ms Hithon and
her friend, who got out of the car before she accelerated, had been
drinking heavily.
In social media footage of the shooting, one bystander can be heard saying the driver was “drunk as sh**.”
Cary Hithon said his daughter’s actions were “out of character.”
He told CBS Miami the aspiring lawyer “wanted to make a difference in the lives of people who weren’t as fortunate as her.”
She
had recently transferred from Hampton University in Virginia to Temple
University in Philadelphia and was expected to graduate with a degree in
political sciences.
Prosecutors have opened an inquiry into whether police acted lawfully in shooting and killing Ms Hithon.
Photos and a video below;