San Diego cop kills woman and dog in fleeing car -- but misses the driver

In yet another tragic case of an officer fearing for his life from a fleeing car, a woman and a dog have been killed.

Early Saturday morning, police spotted a stolen red Toyota and pulled over the vehicle. Inside the car were three men, a woman and a dog. As the officer approached the vehicle, it sped off before he could get to them and led police on a high-speed chase.

Eventually, the car was cornered in a cul-de-sac and came to a halt. As the officer exited his vehicle, according to the El Cajon Police Department, the driver then sped toward the officer. ‘Fearing for his life,’ the officer fired four rounds into the vehicle.

The driver was not hit, which means that if he actually intended to run over the officer, that he could have done so. However, the passenger in the vehicle, a 25-year-old unidentified woman and a dog, were both hit — and killed.

Even after the shots were fired, the driver continued on until he eventually crashed into another police car that was arriving on scene.

According to NBC San Diego, 

Officers swarmed the suspects’ car and arrested three men who were inside. The female passenger who was shot was taken to a local hospital. She died a short time later from injuries suffered in the officer-involved shooting, the police department confirmed. According to the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office, she was 25 years old. She has not yet been identified.