Tri-City Man Run Over By Own Car
25-Jun-2008, 01:39 PM
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Tri-City Man Run Over By Own Car
Link: http://news.therecord.com/News/Local/article/372479
Man runs himself over by remote
Ontario Canada
A Cambridge man may be suffering a twinge of embarrassment in addition to other injuries after he was run over by his own car.
The 32-year-old Cambridge man was pinned between his car and a van last week in the parking lot of a drugstore on Hespeler Road.
At the time, Waterloo Regional Police thought the man had been hit while walking into the store.
Yesterday, they disclosed that the car that hit the victim was his own. The man parked in the lot last Tuesday and was walking away when he tried to push the alarm button on his key chain, police said. He instead activated his remote car starter.
The standard-transmission car, which had been left in first gear, revved to life and drove at its owner. The man was stuck between the front of his car and the back of a van when emergency crews arrived.
"It seems he just inadvertently hit the wrong button," said Sgt. Fred Gregory of the traffic branch. "It certainly is an unusual set of circumstances."
He said it isn't unusual for police to hear of cars rolling away after being left in gear, but the starter component incident was a twist.
The man was taken to Cambridge Memorial Hospital with back and leg injuries. Both vehicles sustained minor damage.
Police sent the car for a mechanical inspection.
Wednesday June 25, 2008 - 09:57am (PDT) Permanent Link | 1 Comment
Man runs himself over by remote
Ontario CanadaA Cambridge man may be suffering a twinge of embarrassment in addition to other injuries after he was run over by his own car.
The 32-year-old Cambridge man was pinned between his car and a van last week in the parking lot of a drugstore on Hespeler Road.
At the time, Waterloo Regional Police thought the man had been hit while walking into the store.
Yesterday, they disclosed that the car that hit the victim was his own. The man parked in the lot last Tuesday and was walking away when he tried to push the alarm button on his key chain, police said. He instead activated his remote car starter.
The standard-transmission car, which had been left in first gear, revved to life and drove at its owner. The man was stuck between the front of his car and the back of a van when emergency crews arrived.
"It seems he just inadvertently hit the wrong button," said Sgt. Fred Gregory of the traffic branch. "It certainly is an unusual set of circumstances."
He said it isn't unusual for police to hear of cars rolling away after being left in gear, but the starter component incident was a twist.
The man was taken to Cambridge Memorial Hospital with back and leg injuries. Both vehicles sustained minor damage.
Police sent the car for a mechanical inspection.
Wednesday June 25, 2008 - 09:57am (PDT) Permanent Link | 1 Comment
25-Jun-2008, 03:42 PM
#8
25-Jun-2008, 04:12 PM
#10
25-Jun-2008, 04:52 PM
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Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Scarborough
Posts: 3,978
Not unless the cop was saying that people with automatic left it in gear all the time when they park. But doesn't the key lock (can't remove from the ignition) when in gear with engine shut off?
26-Jun-2008, 08:19 AM
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Posts: 3,978
Here's another true but sad story regarding a driverless car that happened last week in Quebec.
Father of 5 killed saving kids from runaway car
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 | 9:45 AM ET Comments62Recommend182
The Canadian Press
A Quebec man who was crushed to death under the wheels of a rolling, driver-less car used his final moment to deliver a heroic push that thrust his family members to safety.
Steve Whissell, 33, shoved at least two of his five children out of the runaway vehicle's path as it hurtled down a steep slope in Huberdeau, Que., his father-in-law said Monday.
The car also struck Whissell's wife, Johanne Coursolle, 39, who was holding the couple's two-year-old daughter.
The girl was left unscathed, while Coursolle remained in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"Everyone has been turned upside down, it's such a meaningless death," father-in-law André Coursolle said in a telephone interview from his home in the village of Boileau.
The couple also has two sets of twins, aged three and 10.
"Now five kids have to try and understand what happened [to their father] over something so foolish," Coursolle said, as his voice cracked.
He said his daughter's family sat down on the grass near the town hall on Saturday afternoon.
They were getting set to watch the annual St-Jean-Baptiste Day parade march through the village, which is about 120 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Coursolle said there was a crowd of people who also took advantage of the green patch, which he said serves as a popular vantage point for town activities and a busy tobogganing run in winter.
The elder Coursolle said he rushed to the town shortly after hearing of the accident.
"When I arrived, everything was over and my son-in-law was crushed under the car and there was a cover on top of him," he said.
Coursolle touched Whissell's right forearm as his body was carried to an ambulance. He said it felt "cold."
"I had the impression he was already dead," he said. "The doctor at the hospital said he died on the spot."
Coursolle said his daughter heard one warning shout before the collision.
She told him it was as if someone was yelling "foul ball" at a softball game, so she was not immediately alarmed. "Then there were louder screams of 'Watch out!'" Coursolle said.
"They looked up and the car just hit them."
He said the car hit his daughter and sent her "flying" before it slammed into her husband.
Witnesses told the father-in-law that Whissell, who would have celebrated his 34th birthday this Thursday, knocked the two younger twins to safety.
"Steve … was a good guy," Coursolle said. "A natural father, a devoted, hard-working husband."
Provincial police said the car was parked legally in the town hall parking lot, located above the area where Whissell's family was seated.
"For some unknown reason the car started to move and hit the couple," police spokeswoman Joyce Kemp said.
She said the car, which has a manual transmission, rolled for about 35 metres and damaged two other vehicles on the way down.
Kemp said police have launched an investigation, which will include a mechanical inspection of the vehicle. It is still unclear if charges will be laid.
She also said firefighters taking part in the parade were on the scene very quickly.
Coursolle, meanwhile, questioned whether the concrete barriers at the edge of the parking lot could have been better placed to prevent the accident.
He believes the car's wheel might have rolled through the large gaps between the curbs, which he said are about 10 centimetres high, before careening down the slope.
"If the barriers were stuck together, one after another, this probably wouldn't have happened," Coursolle said.
"For the wheel to pass over the block, the car must have been really rolling."
© The Canadian Press, 2008
Father of 5 killed saving kids from runaway car
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 24, 2008 | 9:45 AM ET Comments62Recommend182
The Canadian Press
A Quebec man who was crushed to death under the wheels of a rolling, driver-less car used his final moment to deliver a heroic push that thrust his family members to safety.
Steve Whissell, 33, shoved at least two of his five children out of the runaway vehicle's path as it hurtled down a steep slope in Huberdeau, Que., his father-in-law said Monday.
The car also struck Whissell's wife, Johanne Coursolle, 39, who was holding the couple's two-year-old daughter.
The girl was left unscathed, while Coursolle remained in hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
"Everyone has been turned upside down, it's such a meaningless death," father-in-law André Coursolle said in a telephone interview from his home in the village of Boileau.
The couple also has two sets of twins, aged three and 10.
"Now five kids have to try and understand what happened [to their father] over something so foolish," Coursolle said, as his voice cracked.
He said his daughter's family sat down on the grass near the town hall on Saturday afternoon.
They were getting set to watch the annual St-Jean-Baptiste Day parade march through the village, which is about 120 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
Coursolle said there was a crowd of people who also took advantage of the green patch, which he said serves as a popular vantage point for town activities and a busy tobogganing run in winter.
The elder Coursolle said he rushed to the town shortly after hearing of the accident.
"When I arrived, everything was over and my son-in-law was crushed under the car and there was a cover on top of him," he said.
Coursolle touched Whissell's right forearm as his body was carried to an ambulance. He said it felt "cold."
"I had the impression he was already dead," he said. "The doctor at the hospital said he died on the spot."
Coursolle said his daughter heard one warning shout before the collision.
She told him it was as if someone was yelling "foul ball" at a softball game, so she was not immediately alarmed. "Then there were louder screams of 'Watch out!'" Coursolle said.
"They looked up and the car just hit them."
He said the car hit his daughter and sent her "flying" before it slammed into her husband.
Witnesses told the father-in-law that Whissell, who would have celebrated his 34th birthday this Thursday, knocked the two younger twins to safety.
"Steve … was a good guy," Coursolle said. "A natural father, a devoted, hard-working husband."
Provincial police said the car was parked legally in the town hall parking lot, located above the area where Whissell's family was seated.
"For some unknown reason the car started to move and hit the couple," police spokeswoman Joyce Kemp said.
She said the car, which has a manual transmission, rolled for about 35 metres and damaged two other vehicles on the way down.
Kemp said police have launched an investigation, which will include a mechanical inspection of the vehicle. It is still unclear if charges will be laid.
She also said firefighters taking part in the parade were on the scene very quickly.
Coursolle, meanwhile, questioned whether the concrete barriers at the edge of the parking lot could have been better placed to prevent the accident.
He believes the car's wheel might have rolled through the large gaps between the curbs, which he said are about 10 centimetres high, before careening down the slope.
"If the barriers were stuck together, one after another, this probably wouldn't have happened," Coursolle said.
"For the wheel to pass over the block, the car must have been really rolling."
© The Canadian Press, 2008
