Suspect shot during her arrest

The Washington Post


January 25, 1979, Thursday, Final Edition


The Washington Times


July 7, 1998, Tuesday, Final Edition


Suspect shot during her arrest


BYLINE: Stephen Dinan; THE WASHINGTON TIMES


SECTION: Part C; METROPOLITAN TIMES; VIRGINIA NEWS; Pg. C7


LENGTH: 323 words


A Fairfax County police officer's gun went off during a scuffle yesterday morning, wounding a woman who had just led police on a long chase along U.S. Route 1 through Prince William and Fairfax counties. After the chase finally ended in a Mount Vernon shopping center, Diana Elizabeth Tyler, 38, of Stafford County, refused to get out of her car. While Fairfax officers pulled her from the car, one officer's gun went off, police said.


The bullet struck her in the neck, police said. Police wouldn't give the name of the officer whose gun discharged and would only say that he was holding the gun in his hand at the time. The department's internal affairs division is investigating.Prince William County police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Chinn said Miss Tyler led police on a 27-minute chase through the county there, changing direction on Route 1 several times, before heading into Fairfax County.After a 10-mile chase along Route 1 north through Fairfax, Miss Tyler pulled into the parking lot for Engleside Plaza. Police blocked her 1995 Oldsmobile Achieva in before she could leave.They ran to the vehicle, telling her to get out. She refused and the officers struggled to pull her out, which is when the officer's weapon fired.Miss Tyler's neck injury was treated at Inova Fairfax Hospital and she was released. There were no injuries or damage to cars during the chase.Miss Tyler was charged with driving on a suspended license and attempting to elude police. She is being held without bond in Fairfax County.Police took the opportunity to serve her with a number of outstanding warrants, including one in Fairfax for a felony bad-check incident; a failure-to-appear warrant from a bad-check charge in Stafford County; and a failure-to-appear warrant for a larceny charge in Fredericksburg. Prince William police charged her with driving on a suspended license and attempting to elude police.