Family Stunned After Car Drifts Down Hill, Hits & Kills 73-Year-Old Woman
EDGEWATER, Md. (WJZ)—A bizarre accident kills an Anne Arundel County woman when a drifting car strikes and pins her underneath.
Mary Bubala has reaction from the family.
It was truly a freak accident that killed 73-year-old Lee Sheila Mahoney.
Just feet from her home of more than four decades and on a walk she made many times, a bizarre incident took Mahoney's life.
"We're devastated by it. Just doesn't make any sense right now," said Josh Ledbetter, victim's son.
Around 3 p.m. Monday, Mahoney was walking along Chesapeake Drive to a school bus stop to pick up a neighbor's child when she was hit by a car.
"It still hasn't hit us that our grandmother's not here anymore," said Kimberly Pike, victim's granddaughter.
Investigators say David Adam Garman, 23, parked his car with the emergency brake on but left it in neutral. It rolled down the hill, apparently picking up speed as it went. A stealth killer with no engine, it made little to no noise as it closed in on the elderly woman.
"It's just a freak accident. I guess she got hit from behind. She never saw it coming," Ledbetter said.
The owner of the car noticed it rolling away. He ran after it. When it stopped, Garman hopped in and backed up. Only then did he realize Mahoney was pinned beneath the vehicle.
"Apparently, she stood no chance," Ledbetter said.
Mahoney and her husband Jack are fixtures of their tight-knit community. Mahoney was the one neighbors called on any time to help them out.
So far no charges have been filed against Garman. But preliminary investigation indicates that the primary cause of this crash is driver error. Police say Garman failed to park the vehicle with its wheels turned properly toward the curb with the parking brake set.
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