An 87-year-old Brooklyn woman who was hit by her own car on Wednesday prayed for 20 minutes in her car in her driveway just before the fatal crash, her heartbroken son has said.
Joanne Behan, the 10-year-old’s grandmother and a devout Christian, had just gotten out of her blue 2013 Toyota Corolla after coming home from a two-hour training session and finishing her daily prayer routine, her son said. .
But tragedy struck when she was walking behind a car that never left the car in the parking lot.
Police said the freak accident occurred outside Gravesend’s home on West 10th Street around 3 p.m., when a car rolled backwards and crushed her.
Behan suffered severe head and torso injuries and was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital in Brooklyn, but could not be saved.
According to her 60-year-old son, the 80-year-old was very active, healthy and intelligent, going to the gym multiple times a week.
“Before yesterday’s accident, she had just come home from a two-hour training session,” David Behan said. “She stayed in her car in the driveway for about 20 minutes for her prayers. She always did that.”
“She then tried to get out of the car, but an accident occurred and she died.”
According to her son, she worked as a teacher’s assistant in her youth and had four children, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
“No matter who she was talking to, she always made everyone’s life so happy,” he said. “She had happy words about everything. Everyone loved her.”
