A woman accidentally ran over and killed her 93-year-old mother in the driveway of her Derbyshire home. Doris Breen, from Walesby, near Newark, lived alone but regularly visited her daughter, Hazel Smith, a few nights a week in the town of Eckington in Derbyshire.
The tragic incident occurred on the afternoon of May 2, 2022, at the Eckington property, which resulted in Ms Breen suffering a brain injury that she was unable to recovered from, Derbyshire Live reports. The death has been ruled an accident by an inquest.
Ms Smith told Chesterfield Coroner's court in a statement that she got into her Audi A3 as she planned to move it out of the garage. Tragedy struck when the OAP walked outside to put rubbish in the bin and, on her return to the house, was run down by Ms Smith, who had been unaware of her mother's presence while she reversed the car.
Ms Smith said that, prior to setting off, she did check her mirrors and simply didn't see her elderly mother and only stopped the car when she heard the collision. Ms Breen had suffered an injury to the left side of her head but was conscious and talking.
She was taken to Chesterfield Royal Hospital and arrived at their Accident and Emergency Department where a number of scans and tests were carried out. It was determined that Ms Breen had suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of the collision.
The following day, on Tuesday, May 3, Ms Breen was transferred to the Portland Ward. However, her condition started to deteriorate and it was decided that she should be placed on end-of-life care. At 11.20pm on Wednesday, May 4, nurses on the ward noticed that Ms Breen had stopped breathing her death was pronounced a short time later.
The inquest heard that Ms Breen's death was investigated by Derbyshire police and the file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), however, the CPS determined that there wasn't enough evidence to continue with a criminal investigation.
Addressing the hearing at Chesterfield Coroner's Court, Assistant Coroner, Miss Susan Evans ruled that Ms Breen had died as a result of an accident after being struck by her daughter's car, hitting her head on the ground and suffering a traumatic brain injury along with other injuries.
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