One woman has died after a restaurant sign weighing more than one ton fell on top of a vehicle Thursday, according to multiple reports.
The accident happened at approximately 1:30 p.m. at the Denny’s on Mulberry Street in Elizabethtown, just east of I-65, WDRB in Louisville reported. Two women and one man were in the car when the sign fell from atop a pole onto the car.
All three people had to be extricated, according to WDRB. A 72-year-old woman was transported to University of Louisville Hospital with critical injuries, but she later died.
The Jefferson County Coroner identified the woman as Lillian Curtis, according to WDRB. A family member said the three family members were traveling home to Columbia and had stopped at the restaurant when the accident happened.
Wind is believed to have been a factor. WLKY in Louisville reported that wind gusts reached 50 miles per hour at the time of the accident.
The sign that fell weighed approximately 2,600 pounds, according to WDRB.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Elizabethtown Police spokesman Chris Denham told WAVE3 in Louisville. “It’s certainly very windy out here and I’m certain that did have a factor and was involved in this.”
A GoFundMe has been setup to help the family with funeral costs. Amy Nichols, who said in the GoFundMe post that Curtis is her grandmother, said the family was on the way back from picking up her grandfather from the hospital when the accident happened.
“Please keep my family in your prayers for this is a very difficult time for all of us,” she wrote. “My nanny was loved by so many people and this loss has left a hole inside us all.”
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