There's still time.
Posted on 11/24/2005 5:43:29 AM PST by devane617
PINELLAS PARK - Margaret Beyer and Bette Broadbent were best friends for years and spent recent weeks sprucing up Beyer's house.
But on Wednesday, as the two were delivering a load of mulch to her house, Beyer hit the accelerator too hard and backed her Toyota station wagon through the garage and into her kitchen, killing Broadbent, 67.
"It's a tragic event," said Pinellas Park police Capt. Michael Haworth.
Beyer, 77, "is pretty shook up," said her sister Kittie Betterton. "That was her best friend."
"I just feel chills," said neighbor Crystal Watson, 28, who rushed over from her house to help. "This is the day before Thanksgiving."
Neighbors said Beyer and Broadbent had been working together on cleanup projects at Beyer's home, 3808 90th Terrace N. Beyer was in the yard so much that neighbor Joe Dougherty teased her about how much she liked to play in the dirt.
On Wednesday morning Beyer was backing her Toyota into the driveway, and Broadbent was standing behind to guide her. That's when Beyer mistakenly accelerated, police said.
Traffic homicide investigator Michael Piacenza said Beyer said it was an accident. She was taking heart medication at the time, but nothing narcotic, he said. He said there was nothing to indicate she was driving recklessly. Therefore, no charges are pending.
"My sister doesn't know what happened," Betterton said Wednesday morning, adding "she's not in a fog, she's perfectly coherent."
Beyer could not be reached for comment.
After the accident, Watson said, "I heard the crash and immediately ran over there."
She saw Beyer's Toyota smashed through a wall and into the house. Debris covered the Toyota. Not realizing another woman was present, Watson first focused on Beyer and tried to calm her down.
Beyer seemed to be in shock, Watson said. "She just kept saying she's never done that in her life," Watson said.
Then Watson saw Broadbent, partly covered in debris. She immediately tried to help. "I didn't feel a pulse. She was not breathing." So Watson ran back to her house a few doors down, called 911, and returned. Broadbent was taken to Northside Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
Dougherty said he feels for his neighbor, Beyer. "It's absolutely a shame. She's a wonderful person."
and some are not...
Indeed. As I am leaving the days of my youth, I confess I find it difficult sometimes. I think there is something to be said for growing old gracefully. Our society puts no premium on that, however. We are supposed to be sprightly and immature right up until they toss your surgery-enhanced carcass into the ground.
LOL!
Something tells me you're not going out on a linb with that prediction.
"Why is it always two ladies?"
Because we outlive our menfolk by a good fifteen years on average. Wa-Hoo! Fifteen years of Cabana Boys ahead of me yet, LOL!
It breaks my heart. I was offended by the title on this, but...I guess I have to acknowlege that side of it...I'm not sure humorous is the right word.
My grandfather had remarried at the age of 85. He was still driving a huge boat, and my dad used to take him and his new "young bride" of 69 years out for dinner every Sunday.
One Sunday, when they got back to the house, my father got out and walked my Stepgrandmother to the door, and my grandfather went to park the car. He had neuropathy in his feet from diabetes, so he had no feeling. He put the car in drive, and pulled the car into the driveway.
When he went to put on the brakes and stop the car as my father and stepgrandmother walked towards the front door, he had his foot on the gas and not the brake. When the car not only did not stop, but went a bit faster, he stepped hard on the gas thinking it was the brakes.
The Buick Lesabre shot over the lawn and crushed his wife against the house. My father who had gone ahead to unlock the door was not injured.
My dad was able to apply a tourniquet to her nearly severed leg, and she lived. She spent six months in a hospital and rehab, and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life. It broke my poor grandfather, and though he lived to be 94, he never drove again, and was not the same person. His wife made him feel guilt for it and never let him forget what he had done to put her in the wheelchair.
Oddly enough, when I tell the story, "My grandfather ran over his wife" story, it almost always provokes humor...we actually have laughed about it more than once, along the lines of "Amateur who didn't know how to finish the job" and things like that.
It is a sad situation.
And yes...this happened in Massachusetts.
Medically impaired drivers are very dangerous and cause a lot of fender benders and accidents. While waiting in the car at the mall I saw two different elderly ladies hit cars on the way out and just keep driving. The solution is actually quite simple. At the age of 70 a person must take the full drivers test. This will weed out the impaired drivers without much hassle.
It is stupid and selfish for a medically impaired driver to be on the road. I lost 2 relatives due to an 80 year old with early dementia hitting a vehicle head on.
There are issues of freedom but what I see from the elderly rights crowd is that they have more of a right to kill my family than my family has a right to live.
Depends on the individual. My father is 82 and still has quick reflexes..
Yes it is. This is something that can happen from a myriad of reasons. Alzheimer's in it's beginning stages is one also. My Father was convinced to give up his driving but not his license (hopefulness combined with an honorable word) by mentally picturing himself driving over someone while he was having a muscle lockup. It was very hard for him after having driven for 70 years. It will be for myself also someday I'm sure. God give me the grace and wisdom to do it in a timely fashion.
Should have just took it. She'd be mad, but would probably soon forget it.
There's still time.
My dad was backing up their huge RV in an Arizona parking lot. He couldn't see my mother in his side mirrors as she was too close to the back of the RV. He mashed her right into the truck of a Buick.
Squashed her good. Mom was hospitalized for a while but survived.
Best law firm name ever
" Begg, Borro and Steele."
No kidding.
Like your grandmother, our DMV let him keep driving but some minor infraction caused them to have him in for a driving test. This could not have more closely resembled the "Titanic" if Leo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet were necking in the back seat while the orchestra played "Nearer My God to Thee" on the hood. No more license.
And it is a terrible burden. He's always been very independent, and he lives outside of town in a country-club development, miles from the nearest store or pharmacy. I am driving him around now but he doesn't call me as often as I would like because he hates having to ask for rides. Never mind I'd much rather take time out to drive him somewhere than have him go plowing into a busload of nuns.
Gore voters no doubt.
I knew a kid growing-up who called his mom 'Squash'... but not for that reason.
The AARP will check in to say that young kids have more car accidents or whatever, but that's not an answer. This kind of accident could be avoided if seniors were tested more frequently. If you are incoherent you're incoherent, and that's the breaks, no pun intended. The question is, did this lady have any other accidents before, like the old guy who plowed over 13 people in Santa Monica did.
Maybe they're brighter, but their reflexes aren't. Why must you bring that ridiculous point into this. I believe ALL seniors, at the age of 75, should have to be tested every six months and at 80, give up their licenses. Sorry, that's the way I feel.
This is why I took the keys from Mom a year ago, the poor circulation in her legs, she cannot discern the brake from the gas, and she admitted I'm right.
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