Police: Officer shoots at dog, strikes woman instead

ST. LOUIS -- A St. Louis police officer accidentally shot a woman in the leg as he tried to wound her reportedly charging pit bull, police said.

St. Louis police chief Sam Dotson said officers responded to a home Thursday afternoon at the request of social workers who were trying to remove a 1-year-old from that residence.

Authorities say when the social workers and at least one officer entered the home, a pit bull jumped a barricade meant to keep it confined to the kitchen and ran toward them. An officer, fearing the dog would attack him or the social workers, fired one shot at the animal but struck the 42-year-old woman instead.

The woman's injury was minor, Dotson said. Her name was not released.

The officer, a veteran of the force for about three years, has been placed on routine administrative leave pending an investigation.

The dog was uninjured and taken by animal control.