A woman in western New York died Thursday after she was accidentally run over by her daughter during an attempt to dislodge their car from a snowbank.
The Buffalo News reports a 48-year-old North Tonawanda woman died Thursday evening when she run over by her car with her 10-year-old daughter at the wheel.
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Authorities say the woman’s daughter was helping her free the vehicle after they were stuck in snow and mud while backing out of a driveway off the alley. It was then that the woman enlisted her daughter’s help to remove some of the snow from around the tires, but was still unable to free the car.
Investigators report that the car was in reverse as the mother rocked it from an open driver’s side door when her daughter mistakenly hit the gas pedal. That’s when the mother was hit by the door, fell and pinned under the car.
When officers arrived to the scene, they found her still underneath the vehicle, calling for a tow truck, which arrived and lifted the car to free her. Subsequently paramedics tried to revive her, but were unsuccessful. The woman was declared dead at the scene, with her identity not yet revealed by the police.
With the Northeastern U.S. facing a winter storm, safety is a measure authorities have been asking residents and travellers to take heed of. A system causing severe weather Sunday along the Gulf Coast is expected to become a nor’easter and threaten millions on Monday night into Tuesday.
While the storm’s exact path remains uncertain, it has been reported that the system will bring precipitation and wind in what will be the third significant winter storm in the past 10 days. A winter storm watch is in effect for 8.5 million people in New England, including residents of Boston, Massachusetts, and Portland, Maine.
As residents were still digging out from that snow, another storm hit the Northeast late last week. An 88-year-old woman died Wednesday when a tree fell and struck her in Suffern, New York, police said.
This winter’s snowfall totals so far sit around the annual average at this point for the major Northeast hubs of Boston, New York and Philadelphia, according to the National Weather Service.
