New York woman loses control of SUV and crashes into walkers

Many of us have been in situations where we know something bad is going to happen, but we realize that we are unable to do anything about it. You might get that feeling when you lose your footing and fall down a flight of wet steps. Perhaps that’s the same realization you get when you’re sitting at a red light and realize the car behind you isn’t slowing down enough to stop before rear-ending you.

It’s a terrifying feeling. Sadly, there are some car accidents that happen so quickly, that the people involved don’t have time to realize what is about to happen or get out of the way.

And that is exactly what happened to a group of three senior citizens in New York two weeks ago.

The three women were part of a group of seniors who were meeting outside a church to take part in a 5k walk. However, before they were able to start walking, a woman crashed her SUV through the group of walkers and into the side of the church.

The woman told investigators that the accident was caused because her sandal fell off. At this point it is not clear whether her sandal held the accelerator pedal down, or if she was looking down and trying to find her flip-flop.

The local county sheriff questioned the woman’s version of the story, asking, “Why did she seem to turn toward a group of people? Was she texting?” He reiterated that they will get to the bottom of everything and determine the exact cause of the accident.

Perhaps one of the most unnerving bits of information is what was revealed from the SUV’s data clip. According the information pulled from the clip, the brakes were not applied at all at the time of the accident. Moreover, prior to the accident, the woman was driving 38 mph. Just prior to the crash, the woman accelerated to 46 mph. The speed limit in the location where the accident occurred is 30 mph.

Regardless of what happened in the moments leading up to the accident, at the time of the accident, there is no evidence that the woman did anything to prevent the accident or to slow her vehicle down, regardless of where her shoes were.

Source: Christian Post, “Car Crash Kills 3 Outside NY Church,” Emma Koonse, Aug. 16, 2011