Sleeping Homeless Woman Dies After Driver Parks Car on Top of Her
Henrietta Regina Dickson, a 55-year-old homeless woman, was killed in St. Petersburg, Fla. this week when a driver unwittingly parked her car on top of her unconscious body, pinning her underneath.
Police found Dickson's body in the condo complex parking lot the following morning, when a resident saw her hand sticking out from under the car. She had apparently either fallen asleep or passed out in a parking space.
The driver, Fathima Masud, will not face charges. According to police, she heard a bump when parking, but found only Dickson's bag when getting out of car. "When she looked, it was a large tote bag full of things, full of clothing, and other items. She just figured that's what she hit," said Yolanda Fernandez of the St. Petersburg police.
Dickson apparently had problems with drugs and alcohol, and became homeless when a friend she was staying with kicked her out for coming home drunk and belligerent. Her brother David offered a remembrance to the Tampa Bay Times:
"She was always the most popular and beloved of all of the siblings," said her brother David Dickson, 58, who lives in Chicago. "She was the one who got the attention, who got the love, who lit up a room."
...
"The way she died is just horrible. How that could have happened, I don't exactly understand. We just hope she's in a better place now," he said. "We stayed in touch. We tried. We just couldn't find a way."
[h/t Huffington Post, image via Bay News 9]