A New Jersey woman was killed in a horrifying incident after a driver allegedly struck her, mistook her for a garbage bag, and continued driving for approximately two miles with the victim trapped beneath the vehicle.
The shocking discovery was made Friday, November 6, outside an Extra Supermarket in Newark, where the driver had stopped to go shopping, apparently unaware that a person was underneath her car.
According to the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office, police responded to the supermarket at 327 Lyons Avenue in the city’s Weequahic neighborhood around 6:58 p.m. after receiving a report of a woman trapped beneath a vehicle.
Investigators said the driver had been traveling south on Sherman Avenue when she struck something in the roadway.
The woman later told police she believed she had hit a black garbage bag and continued driving without realizing she had struck a pedestrian.
She traveled approximately two miles to the grocery store, parked her vehicle, and went inside to make a purchase.
But when she returned to her car, something was wrong.
The driver attempted to put the vehicle in reverse, only to discover that it would not move.
Confused, she stepped outside and walked around the vehicle to determine what was preventing her from backing up.
That’s when she made the horrifying discovery.
A woman was trapped underneath her car.
The driver immediately alerted a supermarket security officer, who contacted 911.
Newark police rushed to the parking lot, but the victim was pronounced dead at the scene.
Authorities have not publicly identified the woman or released her age. The driver, whose identity also remains undisclosed, has not been publicly charged in connection with the incident.
Essex County Prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens II and Newark Public Safety Director Emanuel Miranda confirmed that investigators are examining the circumstances surrounding the fatal collision.
Among the unanswered questions is how the driver failed to realize a person was beneath her vehicle during the approximately two-mile trip.
Officials have not disclosed whether surveillance cameras captured the initial collision or whether investigators have identified witnesses who saw what happened on Sherman Avenue.
Authorities also have not announced the victim’s official cause of death or established precisely when she died.
The investigation remains active, and prosecutors have not indicated whether criminal charges could eventually be filed.
Anyone with information about the incident is urged to contact the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office confidential tip line at 1-877-847-7432.
For now, investigators are working to piece together how an apparent roadway collision ended with a woman discovered dead beneath a vehicle in a supermarket parking lot, miles from where she was first struck.
Discover more from
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.