July 7, 1998 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.