A Yarmouth police officer shot a motorist dead early this morning after a failed vehicle stop and brief car chase.

The 90-second chase began on Harbor Road and continued around the corner onto Baxter Avenue, where neighbors heard a crash, followed by several gunshots. Police said the shooting occurred at about 1:10 a.m.

Authorities did not immediately release the name of the victim or the officer involved in the shooting.

Baxter Avenue resident Sarah Dean said the first sound she heard was that of the police cruiser and the driver's Lincoln meeting.

"I heard a big smash, the car and a cruiser colliding," said Dean, 27, who watched the scene unfold from her bedroom window. "Then I heard three gunshots."

Dean said she also heard a woman scream from the car in which the victim, believed to be male, was shot. "The girl jumped out of the car screaming and crying," said Dean, who had been caring for her sick 4-year-old daughter last night, and who pulled her daughter close to her during the commotion.

After the shooting, officers and personnel from the Yarmouth Police Department and the Yarmouth Fire Department provided emergency first aid to the driver and transported him to Cape Cod Hospital in nearby Hyannis, but he did not survive, police said.

Police said the driver failed to stop when directed to do so on Harbor Road, prompting the chase.

As of midday today, the victim's vehicle had been removed from the scene, while the cruiser apparently involved in the crash remained on the lawn at 41 Baxter Ave. Bright green cones demarcated the scene, where several local and state police investigators worked. Half a dozen police vehicles were parked nearby, including one from the State Police Collision Analysis & Reconstruction Section.

Several neighbors said they heard the crash and the shooting. One neighbor who did not want to be identified said she heard a male voice shout, "Get out of the car!" Then she heard four shots, she said.

Dean said the driver's car briefly proceeded down Baxter after the crash and shooting before coming to rest a few doors down.

State police detectives from the office of Cape and Islands District Attorney Michael O'Keefe are investigating this case.

O'Keefe could not be reached for comment.

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