SUSPECT IN DRUG FRAUD SHOT BY POLICE

Woman dies; her car hit officer

CHANDLER - A woman suspected of forging a prescription at a drive- through
pharmacy was fatally shot Friday by a Chandler police officer after she
struck his motorcycle with her Camaro, police said.

An 18-month-old child in the car with her was unharmed.

Workers at the Walgreen Drug Store at Dobson and Warner roads called police
shortly before 3 p.m. to report a prescription fraud in process, Chandler
police Sgt. Mark Franzen said.

"They were attempting to stall the person in the outside bay," he said.

When the motorcycle officer arrived, the woman, Dawn Nelson, of Ahwatukee,
"attempted to leave that area," Franzen said. "She struck the officer, who
was on his police motorcycle."

Details of what happened next were sketchy Friday evening. Crime-scene tape
cordoned off an area with a police motorcycle on its side and a Camaro
about 50 feet in front, stopped against the front bumper of a police
cruiser. No windows had been shot out of the Camaro, but the driver's side
window was open.

It had not been determined where the officer was when he fired his weapon,
or whether he knew there was a toddler in the car.

Nelson, 35, was flown to Maricopa Medical Center with at least one gunshot
wound to the chest. She died a couple of hours later, hospital officials said.

The officer had "some bruising on his legs," Franzen said. Police have not
released the names of the child or the officer.

Customers from the store and nearby residents gathered to watch as forensic
technicians worked. A fire ladder was extended high above the parking lot
to take photographs of the scene.

"It's getting a little too close to home," said Rita Hawthorne, 50, who
lives nearby.