A 70-year-old woman was hospitalized Wednesday morning after being rescued from underneath her car in Bear, according to the New Castle County Police Department.
She marks one of two people in the last two days to experience injuries associated with their vehicles while not on the road.
Police body camera footage recorded at 8:16 a.m. showed the woman's left arm pinned under her car on Fieldstone Lane in Country Creek. One of her legs was also trapped under the front-left tire.
Five officers lifted the car off of the woman together, the body camera footage showed. They were assisted by a neighbor with a carjack who had tried to free the woman before police arrived.
Police reported that the bystander was unsuccessful on his own because the jack was not high enough. But Mark R. Logemann, chief of the New Castle County Emergency Medical Services Division, said in a statement that the man's efforts "played a major role in this patient being protected from further injury, and possibly death."
The woman was taken to the hospital in "serious but stable condition," according to New Castle County police. The crash that trapped the woman is still under investigation by the New Castle County Division of Police Traffic Services Unit, but police said alcohol was not likely a factor.
New Castle County saw a second car crushing injury just one day later — this time with deadly consequences, witnesses said.
Mill Creek Fire Company reported that responders were dispatched to the Linden Hill Square Townhouses in Pike Creek at 7:48 p.m. Thursday. Further information from the department was not released.
A townhouse resident — who identified himself as the victim's brother — said the victim was changing the oil on a minivan when he got stuck.
By the time first responders arrived, it was too late. Officials have not publicly identified the victim.
The car was still outside 5423 Jenmatt Drive the next morning. Orange spray paint marked the location of all four tires. The front right tire was removed and on its side beneath the car. Remnants of the repair effort — an Allen wrench, a ratchet and tire valve caps — were discarded on the concrete.