An elderly woman who mistook the gas pedal for the brake ran over and killed her husband Wednesday morning at their home near Martinez, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Officers responded at 10:46 a.m. to the 2600 block of Reliez Valley Road near the border of Martinez on a report from Martinez police of a solo car crash, CHP Officer John Fransen said.
Fransen said a woman in her 80s was trying to reposition a Toyota Corolla in a garage and her husband was standing near the car, giving her directions.
The woman told officers she accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal and struck her husband before crashing through the back wall of the garage and pinning him underneath the car, Fransen said. The car ultimately came to rest in the backyard, he said.
The man was alive and conscious when medical crews transported him to John Muir Medical Center. He was able to provide a statement to police corroborating his wife's account, but just over an hour later, he succumbed to his injuries while being treated at the hospital, Fransen said.
The man's name was not immediately being released, according to Fransen.
The collision remains under investigation by the CHP.
