A birthday celebration gone awry is the only way, to sum up, Cariann Denise Hithon’s 22nd birthday. The recent 22-year-old was driving a black BMW throughout Miami Beach on her birthday before she crashed into two vehicles, ran over a police officer and was shot by another officer.
According to NBC 10, Hithon was driving at a high speed and crashed into two vehicles along Miami Beach. The Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates said that Hithon ran a red light and hit a car. Then she fled from the crash and hit another car.
When Hithon struck the second vehicle people surrounded her car and told her to get out. Eventually, uniformed police officers arrived and tried to de-escalate the situation. The officers told Hithon to get out of the car but instead, she stepped on the gas and ran over officer David Cajuso.
The other police officers started firing at the vehicle and struck Hithon. She eventually crashed her vehicle half a block away. There is cellphone video footage of everything that went down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9Uu1qpDe3E
Hithon was taken to the hospital and later died. She is originally from Bowie, Maryland and recently transferred to Temple University and was studying political science and philosophy.
The Miami Police have yet to release the name of the officer who shot her and if Hithon was intoxicated while driving because the shooting is still under investigation. They did, however, say that officer Cajuso, who was run over, is stable and recovering from his head injuries.
Temple University Student Government said in a statement that their thoughts are with Hithon’s family.