Grandmother, 70, Dead After Her Own Car Runs Over Her in Daughter’s Driveway

A family in California is mourning the loss of a 70-year-old mother and grandmother who died after being accidentally run over by her own car.

Sue Rooney of Sacramento died on May 15 after she was struck by her own SUV, which was not in park, around 7:30 p.m.

“It appears the woman was struck by her own vehicle after it rolled backwards onto her before colliding with another parked vehicle across the street where it came to a rest,” Sacramento Police Department spokesperson Allison Smith told FOX40.

Sue was reportedly taken to a local hospital where she succumbed to her injuries.

The family has now filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Jaguar Land Rover, the manufacturer of Sue’s 2020 Land Rover Discovery, NBC affiliate KCRA reported last week.

“This incident was avoidable because the vehicle contains all of the equipment necessary to prevent unintended rollaways but the vehicle’s manufacturer — Jaguar Land Rover — opted not to enable the features that would have secured the vehicle when it detected Ms. Rooney exited with the engine on and the transmission not in Park,” the lawsuit reads, per KCRA.

According to the outlet, Sue had just celebrated her birthday days before the fatal incident.

“She got inside her car and started her car and then she exited her car to tell my husband something, and the car started moving in reverse,” said her daughter Kathleen Rooney, who told KCRA that her mother was babysitting earlier that day.

“The car door hit her,” Kathleen explained. “She fell on the ground, and then the car rolled over her. On my flat driveway.”

The lawsuit claims Jaguar Land Rover knows of similar incidents but has not made any changes to their model.

A spokesperson for the company said in a statement, “JLR is committed to the safety of our customers and is saddened to hear of this incident. As this matter is now related to pending litigation, we will not comment further.”

The family’s attorney Dylan Ruga said the car has a non-intuitive dial selector that can lead drivers to believe the car is in park when it’s not, adding: “And then it lacks what is referred to as a driver exit strategy, which is technology to secure the vehicle when it detects a driver exiting with the transmission not in park.”

“We called her Oma,” her daughter Erin Farrell said. “Oma was everybody’s favorite person in our family.”