Coroner IDs Man Killed After Wife Mistook Gas Pedal For Brake

The Contra Costa County coroner’s office today identified a man who was killed on Wednesday after his wife mistakenly hit the gas pedal instead of the brake and ran over him in a car at their home near Martinez.

Glenn Cottrell, 89, was giving his wife directions as she tried to reposition a Toyota Corolla inside a garage at their home in the 2600 block of Reliez Valley Road, according to the coroner’s office and California Highway Patrol Officer John Fransen.

Fransen said the woman, who is also in her 80s, accidentally stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.

The car struck Cottrell before crashing through the back wall of the garage and pinning him underneath. Cottrell was alive and conscious when medical crews arrived and even provided a statement to investigators, Fransen said.

Medical crews were called to the house at 10:46 a.m., but Cottrell died at the hospital just over an hour later, Fransen said.

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--Bay City News