South Dakota AG clears Rapid City officer in May shooting

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — The South Dakota attorney general has found that a Rapid City police officer was justified in shooting at a woman seven times as she backed her car into a police squad car during a May pursuit. Attorney General Mark Vargo on Friday called the shooting, which hospitalized 32-year-old Shania Watkins, a “tense, uncertain, and rapidly evolving situation.” The Division of Criminal Investigation found that Watkins, a Rapid City resident, fled from police in her car after an officer attempted to pull her over during the early hours of May 31, 2022. During the pursuit, she reversed her car into a police squad car and an officer fired on her vehicle seven times.