SOUTH PASADENA >> An 86-year-old woman died after being struck, dragged and pinned by a car driven by a 93-year-old woman in a church parking lot Saturday afternoon as both women were leaving Mass, authorities said.
Killed was Elizabeth Cherry of South Pasadena, South Pasadena police Officer Jeff Holland said.
The “tragic accident” took place about 6:10 p.m. at Holy Family Catholic Church, 1527 Fremont Ave, South Pasadena police Sgt. Jim Valencia said.
Cherry was preparing to get into her car in the parking lot when the other woman, a Pasadena resident, struck her while backing up her Jaguar XJ6, he said.
Witnesses reported hearing the Jaguar’s engine revving steadily, as if the accelerator was being depressed, before the car shifted into reverse and lurched backward and toward the right, Holland said. The Jaguar sideswiped Cherry’s Toyota Avalon and struck her.
“The 86-year-old woman was dragged underneath the vehicle for over 100 feet until the vehicle came to rest after colliding with a block wall,” South Pasadena police officials said in a written statement.
Police said the elderly victim remained pinned beneath the Jaguar when first responders arrived at the scene.
Firefighters freed the badly injured woman from beneath the car and took her to Huntington Hospital in Pasadena for treatment, officials said.
The woman succumbed to her injuries at 8:20 p.m., Valencia said.
The driver remained at the scene and cooperated with investigators, Holland said. She did not appear aware she had struck a person until afterward.
Officers from the South Pasadena Police Department’s Traffic Unit are continuing their investigation, though officials noted no overt signs pointing to a crime.
