The story below from the Oregonian was sent to me by a reader. It’s sad on so many levels (emphasis mine):
A 97-year-old woman was killed Saturday in the parking lot of an apartment building in Milwaukie when she was hit by a car that was backing out of a parking space, the Milwaukie Police Department said Sunday morning.
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Anna Hemming, 97 of Milwaukie, was walking behind a Subaru station wagon when the car struck her. Police responded to the incident in the 12200 block of SE 31st Place at about 3:32 p.m. She was taken to OHSU hospital, where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
Police said Stanley Keltz, 79, of Milwaukie, the driver of the car, will not be charged, because the incident was an accident.
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So I don’t watch where I am going, exercise proper care as I start my 3000# vehicle in motion: I run over an elderly person walking through a parking lot. Too Bad.. collateral damage, eh chap?
Is the thinking “there but for the grace of god, go I?”, so lets not make it too hard on that driver? How does one argue personal resposibility to criminals,addicts,etc when there is no call for personal resposibility when one hits and kills a vulnerable person? Or even a not so vulnerable one? Is a drivers license the same as a license to kill?
My great-aunt died exactly this way. The elderly driver was too short to see through his rear windshield. No charges filed.
Um… whatever happened to the Vulnerable Users law we just had passed?
I think we need a review of this case.
Deja vu:
Driver won’t be charged in fatal parking lot accident
by John Snell, The Oregonian
Monday November 17, 2008, 11:56 AM
HILLSBORO – A Cornelius woman who accidentally struck and killed a 77-year-old woman in a parking lot last week will not face criminal charges, a police spokesman said today.
Ana Aguilar, 28, was driving between 2 and 3 miles per hour when she struck Nora Wallis of Beaverton, said Lt. Michael Rouches, spokesman for the Hillsboro Police Department.
The accident happened Nov. 13 at about 2:50 p.m. in the Safeway store parking lot at 2021 N.W. 185th Ave.
Rouches said Wallis had been at a hair salon a few doors down from the grocery store. She was walking between cars in the parking lot right before she was struck, Rouches said.
Aguilar told police she did not see Wallis before she hit her with her 1998 Toyota pickup truck. Rouches said Wallis fell and struck her head on the pavement. She died at Legacy Emanuel Hospital & Health Center a few hours later.
Rouches said Aguilar will not be charged and that no drugs, alcohol or erratic driving were involved.
– John Snell;
johnsnell@news.oregonian.com
Unfortunately, this is fairly common – the elderly are especially vulnerable to falls and impacts, and impacts (from whatever source) are a leading cause of death for the elderly, and one that no medication nor treatment can cure or stave off.
The initial story is doubly tragic since it was an elderly driver who struck and killed an elderly pedestrian. I don’t know the specifics of this case, but many of the elderly continue to drive long after they are able to drive SAFELY. Vision and reaction time are generally poor in the elderly, and their decision-making process takes longer. They may also have medical conditions or medications which affect their ability to drive.
Our car-oriented infrastructure coupled with the demise of local businesses have made motorized travel a requirement for the elderly, and in order to prevent these tragedies from occuring, society needs to step up and provide these people with valid options to driving. Many of them cannot walk long distances, nor ride a bike.