MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WSMV/Gray News) – A Tennessee woman was hospitalized in critical condition after she was pinned between two cars in what police are calling a “freak accident.”
The Murfreesboro Police Department says the incident happened just before 3 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of the LongHorn Steakhouse at The Avenue mall, WSMV reports.
Officers say a man who uses a wheelchair was getting into a Hondra CRV that was modified to be used as a mail-carrier vehicle. That means it had accelerator and brake pedals on the driver and passenger sides of the vehicle.
Police say a woman in the driver seat of the Honda was backing out of a parking space to allow the man to get into the passenger seat. Because the man had recently suffered a stroke and had no feeling in his left side, another woman was helping him.
As the man was getting into the passenger seat, officers say he accidentally hit the gas pedal, causing the Honda to reverse, spin “out of control” and hit another vehicle.
The woman helping the man into the Honda was pinned between the two vehicles.
Police say the “out of control vehicle” continued reversing and crashed into two more cars before stopping.
The woman who was pinned was taken to St. Thomas Rutherford Hospital but was later transferred to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where she remains in critical condition.
The woman in the driver seat and the man were not injured.
Police say the incident is being investigated by the department’s Fatal Accident Crash Team.
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