Temple University is one of the first institutions in Pennsylvania to display the new Progress Pride flag. (Photo by Adam Moss // CC BY-SA 2.0)
Cariann Hithon, a student at Temple University, was killed on Sunday in Miami Beach, Fla., after the car she was driving struck a police officer and several other vehicles, according to The Associated Press and other sources.
The Herald reported that Hithon's black BMW ran a red light and crashed into the car of John Butchko, a retired Miami-Dade detective.
"It played out like a movie set,” Butchko told the Herald. “With people running, screaming, car crashes, gunshots, an injured officer lying on his back on the ground — all within a minute."
Cariann Hithon // LinkedIn
As bystanders and witnesses gathered around the accident, the black BMW floored forward and hit David Cajuso, a police officer approaching the car, according to CBS News. Another police officer shot at Hithon's car, but her car continued forward and finally stopped, crashing into another SUV. She was taken to a hospital where she died Sunday night.
Hithon is the third Temple student to have died this semester, according to The Temple News, the school's student-run media organization.
“This has been a painful semester, Owls. We know. We hear you. We see you. We support you,” the Temple Student Government said in a statement on Monday.
Cariann’s father told CBS that she had been in Miami to celebrate her 22nd birthday. She was a political science major and had plans to go to law school.
"She was going to do great things for society and our culture,” her father told CBS. “She wanted to make a difference in the lives of people who weren’t as fortunate as her.”
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