A celebration turned into a tragedy moments after a parade concluded Saturday in Slater, as a driver accidentally backed into a crowd and killed one person. The accident injured multiple people–including a 6-year-old boy who was airlifted to a hospital–and onlookers raced to lift up the car to get to those trapped below it. The accident occurred at Main and Tama streets at about 11 a.m. The final entries in the parade had just passed that intersection moments earlier. Witnesses say the vehicle reversed from a parking spot on someone’s lawn and lurched up a small gully and into a street still filled with people beginning to leave the parade. Firsthand accounts describe an elderly driver who was very distraught and said she confused the gas for the brake pedal. Dozens of people raced in to offer help in any way they could, from those trying to lift the car to off-duty medical workers trying to render aid. “It was a blur. My adrenaline was going,” said Dan McCrady, one of those who helped lift the car. “We just got to the front of the car and counted to three and we were able to lift it up, thankfully,” he said. “I knew there were people under the car, I didn’t know how many, who it was. I just know we had to get it up.”The Iowa State Patrol reports Mary Nienow of Albert Lea was killed. Three other people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
A celebration turned into a tragedy moments after a parade concluded Saturday in Slater, as a driver accidentally backed into a crowd and killed one person.
The accident injured multiple people–including a 6-year-old boy who was airlifted to a hospital–and onlookers raced to lift up the car to get to those trapped below it.
The accident occurred at Main and Tama streets at about 11 a.m. The final entries in the parade had just passed that intersection moments earlier.
Witnesses say the vehicle reversed from a parking spot on someone’s lawn and lurched up a small gully and into a street still filled with people beginning to leave the parade.
Firsthand accounts describe an elderly driver who was very distraught and said she confused the gas for the brake pedal.
Dozens of people raced in to offer help in any way they could, from those trying to lift the car to off-duty medical workers trying to render aid.
“It was a blur. My adrenaline was going,” said Dan McCrady, one of those who helped lift the car.
“We just got to the front of the car and counted to three and we were able to lift it up, thankfully,” he said. “I knew there were people under the car, I didn’t know how many, who it was. I just know we had to get it up.”
The Iowa State Patrol reports Mary Nienow of Albert Lea was killed. Three other people were taken to hospitals with injuries.