An elderly woman was fatally struck by her own vehicle while helping a passenger in a taxi she had collided with moments before.
The woman’s car crashed into the taxi in the car park of the Kambah Village shops in the Canberra suburb of Tuggeranong on Monday morning.
The 75-year-old woman got out to help the taxi passenger with a stroller, but forgot to brake her car, which rolled forward and hit her.
Up to 20 bystanders came to the woman’s aid and performed CPR before she was taken to hospital in a critical condition, where she died a short time later.
A pedestrian was also injured but did not require hospitalization.
The tragic accident occurred just two days before Christmas.
Local taxi driver Gagandeep Singh was picking up a regular passenger at the mall when he felt and heard a sudden jolt.
A 75-year-old woman died after being hit by her own car following a collision (archive image)
“I ran quickly because I didn’t know what was happening,” he said. The Canberra Times.
‘I saw the (other) car trying to help quickly.
“I saw that the lady was on the ground.”
Jack Roche was serving coffee at the nearby bakery when he heard a loud bang and a crowd of people trying to revive the woman.
The tragedy took place near Woolworths, in the Kambah Village shops car park.
“It was almost, probably 15 to 20 people surrounding her there,” he said.
“At this time of year, it’s very sad that an accident like this happens.”
ACT Policing’s Major Collision Team has launched an investigation into what police described as “the complicated circumstances of this incident”.
Police urge witnesses to contact Crime Stoppers.