Elderly Woman Killed In Poway Accident ID'd

POWAY, CA – Authorities released the name Tuesday of an 84-year-old woman who was killed in an accident last week outside the Poway elder-care facility where she lived.

Rose Heames was in a patient-transport van that began rolling backward down a driveway at Sunshine Care on Monte Vista Road after the driver parked and got out to help her and other passengers exit the vehicle shortly before 4 p.m. Friday, according to sheriff's officials.

While the driver was trying to get back behind the wheel of the vehicle, it knocked her to the ground and began dragging her, Sgt. David Cheever said. It then hit several trees before crashing to a halt.

Heames was found lying alongside an open passenger door, unconscious. She died at a hospital the following day.

The driver, Sunshine Care employee Brienna Pratchner, was treated for leg injuries, Cheever said. He said investigators determined that Pratchner had neglected to put the transmission of the van into "park" or set its emergency brake, but it was unclear if she might be cited over the accident.

By City News Service / Image via Shutterstock