
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, August 31, 1993                   TAG: 9308310275
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE HUDSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

CAR ROLLS BACKWARD, PINS WOMAN FOR 30 MINUTES

A Roanoke County woman was trapped under her car - apparently with its weight on her chest - for as long as half an hour Monday evening after it rolled backward in her driveway.

Rescue workers and firefighters jacked up the mid-sized car and pulled Anna D. West out from under it.

West, 48, was in satisfactory condition later Monday night as she recuperated at Roanoke Memorial Hospital.

Roanoke County police Officer M.A. Villarini estimated that West was pinned under the car for 20 to 30 minutes.

The accident happened just before 5:15 p.m. on Carriage Drive in Southwest Roanoke County.

Cecilia Hanslik was driving by when she saw West pinned under the car. The engine was not running, but the car was in gear, Hanslik said, so she put it into park.

As she talked to West to keep her calm, Hanslik said, West told her that she had been getting something out of the trunk when the car started drifting backward down her sloping driveway.

"I don't think she had time to get out of the way," Hanslik said.

West was dragged several feet before the car came to a stop.

Villarini said it was unclear whether the car had been left in gear or had popped out of park.

by CNB