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Edith A. McFarland, shown advocating for Sunday DART bus service in 2005, was killed in a hit-and-run accident Tuesday.
A wheelchair-bound woman who was killed when she was hit by three cars Tuesday had lost her leg in a previous hit-and-run accident on the same city road in Wilmington, Del., a friend told NBC Philadelphia.
Edith McFarland, 58, was trying to get across South Market Street, a busy road near the Fairview Inn, where she had been living for the past three months, when she was struck at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, Delaware State Police said.
"After the impact, McFarland was ejected from her wheelchair into the southbound lanes of South Market Street, where she was then struck by two additional vehicles," investigators said in a statement.
Police said the disabled woman was hit first by a gold truck or SUV. All three drivers fled the scene without stopping and have yet to be apprehended.
McFarland was pronounced dead at the scene in the state's first fatal accident of the year, police said.
The first hit-and-run happened 25 years ago, her friend, Robin Smith, told NBC Philadelphia. South Market Street is also known as Route 13, and McFarland's first accident happened just a few miles further down the road on Route 13, reported CBSPhilly.com.
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Edith A. McFarland was killed in a hit-and-run accident Tuesday night at the entrance to the Fairview Inn on South Market Street, also designated U.S. 13, south of Wilmington.
"To be taken off of this earth the same way she lost her leg, it’s just, it heavies my heart," Smith said.
Smith implored the drivers who hit her friend to turn themselves in.
"I think it's cruel. How can you hit somebody in a wheelchair and keep going?" she said. "I pray to God that whoever hit her, that their heart would be so heavy that they would turn themselves in and that justice would be made for her and her family."
Sources told NBC Philadelphia that McFarland was returning from the grocery store when she was killed.
Read the full story on NBCPhiladelphia.com
"She was a good woman," McFarland's son Jeremy told NBC Philadelphia, unable to hold back tears. "We didn’t have very much anyway, but she would give anyone what she had, you know."
Police said they had interviewed witnesses and asked anyone with information to call the Delaware State Police.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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isn't Market Street aka Rt 13 in Chester PA ?
Powhatan VA also has a Rt 13. Richmond VA has a Park Avenue just like New York.
Rt. 13 runs through Delaware, all the way to Dover and beyond. Many towns have Market Streets.
If I'm not mistaken; at 6:35 p.m. in the northeast, it's already dark out. Did this person have any "lights" on her wheel chair? If you're caught after dark riding a simple bike without the proper lights, you can be fined.
The animals who hit the woman and ran probably didn't have any license, insurance, were driving DUI or DUID or had warrants out for their arrest.
So , if she was hit by 3 cars, then there must be witnesses correct? Someone even described the one SUV as Gold? I bet if it was someone of importance they would have caught the losers all ready. But, since it was just a older gal out after dark in a wheelchair, that there's this "nothing we can do kind of attitude." Our society is getting more cold hearted by the minute when you read such stories such as this.
How could three cars hit a person, kill them and not stop!!! What kind of people live there or anywhere for that matter. When you find them and I doubt that you will they should be punished to the full extent of the law. My condolences to the family.
Need you ask???
Automobile drivers treat anyone who's not in a car as if they don't have a right to be on the road.
Several years back a friend of mine lived in Wilmington and worked in the tonier Hockessin area. He rode a bike down a hilly, two-lane road every day to get to work. He went through 3 bikes in 6 months because the car drivers just blew him off the road. He eventually lost the job in part because of transportation issues.
On the other hand, my neighborhood has nice wide sidewalks and nobody uses them. And when they walk in the street they don't even seem to notice the car behind them. Dumb people come in all types.
alison, make that four cars hit her and didn't stop if you count the one from 25 years ago. Of the three that hit her this time, only one could have killed her. Either way you're right!
I am in shock that not one, not two but THREE cars hit this poor woman and none of them stopped?!?!? That is totally inhumane!
I can't believe it either. I thought South FLorida was bad.
I am just curious as to who had the right of way. These drivers are complete scum, don't get me wrong, but 3 seems like a lot if she was crossing legally. Maybe it was a left hand turn situation, which might explain why they didn't see her in time but you still stop! Hopefully they'll find at least the first driver.
I'm unsure if she was in a crosswalk. The first car hitting her would be for the courts to decide guilt, had they not fled the scene. But I don't think the other two cars had anything to fear - until they fled. The other day the article suggested the first car knocked her out of her chair and into the path of the two other cars. They brought this on themselves - and I don't feel a darn bit sorry for any of the three of them.
Since wheelchairs do not navigate over curbs it is reasonable to assume that she was in the crosswalk. My guess is that the drivers ran a red light right after the yellow because they were in a rush.
All three drivers should be bound to a wheelchair and hit with a bus.
With all the other chips and stuff they're putting in cars these days, maybe they could come up with one that will shut the engine down if the vehicle detects a collision.
having the engine shut off in an unsafe spot is not a good idea
Wow ! you can run but you can't hide. Sad.
no crosswalk? No lighted crossing? when the woman lost her leg in the first accident, was there no move, initative to put in a safe crossing? Whats up with that?
The first accident was "a few miles" away - perhaps they put one in at that location, or perhaps she was jaywalking both times. The article did not say. (I don't know about you, but I would not walk back "a few miles" to legally cross any street. But I will cross with a stoplight/sign).
Here in California the pedestrian has the right of way, cross walk or not! You also have to give a bicycle AT LEAST 4' (four feet) of clearance when meeting or passing them. I just can't figure out if someone riding a bicycle in a cross walk is considered a pedestrian. Confusing because the rules are different. If they are a cyclist they just have to be 4' past you but a pedestrian has to be clear of your lane.
PappaDave - here in Tucson if you are a cyclist riding in a cross-walk, you are fair game. 15 or so years ago a woman blew through a red-light (and lit) cross-walk and killed a 14-year-old girl who was riding her bicycle in the cross-walk. The woman was not charged with anything - not even running a red light. Shameful.
Disturbing as HELL! Lady... I am SO sorry.
Sounds like she had bad luck with this street. I would have stayed off it after I lost my leg the first time!
Now, I can't put the blame on the drivers fully. Why you ask shocked and appalled? Because this is America, and in America we DO have people that just walk out into the street. Look both ways? Why bother, they have to stop for me, even if I'm walking against the traffic light. This IS the mind set allot of people have.
I have seen it MANY of times. Face the facts, some people are stupid.
xsvenom
You have absolutely ZERO reason to believe that this woman was crossing against the light. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been crossing the street legally, with the walk signal, and had to literally RUN to get out of the way of some idiot making a turn without bothering to consider the pedestrian walk signal.
On the other hand we DO know that the three drivers are guilty of a serious crime (it’s called hit and run).
What may have started as an honest accident has now turned into a crime. All three drivers who left a woman lying in the street to die are fully responsible for their actions. I'm sick of seeing people who have little to no emotion left in their bodies. Oh I ran over that dog, can't stop I need my Starbucks. After you form that attitude it's not a stretch to think you should leave a injured person on the side of the road because it was their fault anyway.
You gotta wonder, how does one person get hit by cars twice, when others never do? Gotta think its something she was doing. Either crossing when/where she shouldn't have been, or having a sense of entitlement that she could do whatever she wants, when ever she wants. I see that all the time in NYC.
Not saying that she was right or wrong, but until we have the whole story, if we ever do, I can't feel bad or condemn the drivers for anything other then not stopping. We don't know that this wasn't this womans fault.
Jeep, this is NOT an example of clear thinking or logical progression.
If the accident WAS the woman's 'fault', that's all the more reason for the people involved to STAY on the scene because they wouldn't be incurring any negative consequences until they left the scene, which is illegal whether or not you are responsible for the accident.
Knowing "the whole story" of what caused the accident isn't necessary to conclude that the drivers broke the law by leaving. But what is even worse is there is no indication that ANY of them made any attempt to see if the woman was still alive and could have been helped by medical attention. That is callous disregard for human life; depraved indifference, which is prosecutable.
Yes, if she was crossing illegally or carelessly, then she carries responsibility for creation of the accident, but to use the phrase "sense of entitlement" suggests an attitude of judgmentalism inappropriate to the situation. Making a bad behavioral choice may put responsibility on one for the forseeable consequences, but it doesn't justify a 'death sentence', and it ABSOLUTELY does not justify the departure of the scene by the drivers. It is an illogical double standard from you to expect her to bear the consquences of her possible poor choice but then excuse the drivers for theirs.
11sec - just like xsvenom posted I did have the same question. Not to belittle the fact these people drove off but curious as to why or what may have caused her to be hit in the first place? Was she crossing illegally or did the first driver blow thru a light/stop sign ect. As is typical the article is lacking the proper detail (whether that is all that was available or the author was lazy and didn't try to dig for more facts) for people to make an accurate conclusion and is aimed more at the hype that is created. Now with this said the fact that these drivers did drive off even if she was possibly crossing illegally is appalling. Especially the first driver, that was reported in the article yesterday, to have possibly hit her and in turn caused her to be thrown into the other lanes and hit by the other drivers. The other drivers may not of been able to help it do to how sudden it could've happen but should've stopped. Now by driving off they have put themselves in trouble too. Always be careful when crossing the street, regardless of where you cross! Car vs person = car wins.
I wonder sometimes what this world is coming too? It truly is sad to hear about things like this that happen and others just continue on with no concern.
It is time we look in the mirror and ask ourselves if this is really what we want to become? We can do better and we should.
11secJeepSRT8, your premise is logically flawed. There is nothing about the fact that it happened twice to the same woman that shows that she was in any way at fault. First of all you do not appear to understand the nature of random chance. Lots of people are struck by cars through no fault of their own.
Very often the problem is that people make left turns on a green light without bothering to consider the fact that their turn will cross the path of pedestrians that are crossing the street with a walk signal. In my city alone, it happens on a fairly regular basis. Sooner or later it’s going to happen more than once to the same person by random chance alone.
The probability of it happening twice to the same person becomes greater when you consider that, the second time, she was in a wheelchair and was, therefore, unable to get out of the way. I can think of more than one occurrence in my own life when I was crossing a street LEGALLY with the walk signal and had to run to get out of the way of a driver that was doing the wrong thing. I actually remember going home and telling my wife that I would have been killed if I had been in a wheelchair.
Sorry individuals who did this. I hope someone turns all three drivers in. Put them in a cell and forget about them.
Yes, we have lots of people who walk out into the street and just expect cars to stop. However, people usually don't run from a situation like that unless they feel like they are in the wrong.
Exactly! Even if she was in the wrong, how can you just drive off after hitting a HUMAN? Gosh, I stopped and got out of my car with tears in my eyes the other day after slamming my brakes thinking I had hit a dog (I didn't thank goodness, but imagine if it had been a human)! That woman is someone's daughter, sister and friend. Have a heart, people! I'm sure that eventually, they will be found, due to damage on the cars. Hopefully, the body shop people will call police to report suspicious-looking damage to cars for investigation at that time.
Hit me once shame on me, hit me twice......
Route 13 runs throughout Delaware but where this woman got hit is actually in the city of Wilmington. The speed limit is very low so I'm not sure how these people could have hit her and kept going. There are plenty of crosswalks as well with stop signs. However, on certain part of the street there aren't. I'm not sure where she was crossing. Either way, these people should have stopped.
Darwin's law at its best. This woman had no business crossing a highway at night in a wheelchair. Talk about DUMB. The fact that she had already lost a leg crossing this same highway only goes to show this dummy was on borrowed time anyway. As to people hitting her and not stopping, at night in a large car or truck you may never even know you ran over something. Many handicapped people think that the world will slam on its brakes for them no matter what they are doing... and I have seen handicapped go into moving traffic without looking almost daring people not to stop and with the attitude that the world revolves around their disability. Who ran over her is TOTALLY irrelevant. This fool has only herself to blame for being so stupid and crossing a dark highway at night in a wheelchair. A three year old would know better. Was she mentally handicapped also? If so, why was she not in her cage?
Priceless. Well, your nom de plume kind of says it all.
face the facts:
I agree with you! She should have been on her hands and KNEE, pulling the wheel chair behind her!
I don't usually call people names on here but you are a MORON!
Face the Facts....
Yep, it was the womens fault, all her fault. What a dumb ass you are!!! Makes me tend to think you were the first car!
Just for the record, even IF she was the one who was J-Walking to begin with, there is NO EXCUSE for 3 people to hit and run. As a decent human being you would want to see if she was alive. Oh but wait... you are not a decent human being are you?!!! Blame everyone else but the guilty ones.
I feel badly for her family, may she rest in peace.
Hey bully, you know for a fact that all three cars knew that they hit a person at night on a busy road?
Did all three run over her whole body (BADUMP!) or an arm or leg (thump)?
If Face is a dumb ass, you must be a Jack(_!_)!
Hey Chocha.... and you know for a fact that she was dumb? Do you also know for a fact that it was NOT at one of the many stop lights on that hwy? And DO YOU KNOW FOR A FACT that they didn't feel the thump?? NO YOU DON'T
Call me any name you will, but when someone here on the vine starts calling people dumb for a tragic mistake/accident, and she needed to be in her cage for being handicapped mentally... then dumb ass is acceptable. Your comment to me about being a jackass is fine, but you know what? It doesn't bother me in one bit that a low life like you calls me anything.
I can't imagine hitting someone first of all, but then hitting someone in a wheelchair, and then NOT stopping at all. Amazing!! People have become cold and heartless. They made the situation so much worse for themselves by running. Maybe, just maybe, if they had stopped, nothing would have happened. Maybe they weren't at fault and by staying they could have cleared it up, but now they are in so much more trouble. I remember the days when people cared about others and we tried to help people. Now, we just dispose of them like garbage. What is this world coming too? It is sick and sad.
When comparing sensitivity to accident situations i cannot help recalling the attitude of police during high speed chases, there concern for private citizens is secondary to there immediate souroundings, in comparison im am not surprised when a private citizen takes the same attitude while driving on americas roadways.
After a particularly bad accident killing over five minors caused by a speed chase, the police in my area now no longer follow chases and now use other tactics (taking down license numbers and getting backup to cut them off or follow at a distance so the perp. thinks they are alone) so as not to encourage reckless endangerment by the fleeing vehicle (not that the police were responsible per se, but chasing a fleeing car does encourage the fleeing driver to be more reckless).
Dam it, they should put Camera's on every Corner and speed traps...Come on Big Brother where are you when this Sh1t happens? haha
That was my very first thought: Who had the right of way? There are some wheelchair people in this area that just DO NOT give a rats as* if they have the right of way or not. There have been some very close calls, and it was NOT the fault of the driver of the vehicle.
When you are sitting way below the line of site on a lot of vehicles, you are asking to be killed when you cross against the red light and expect the traffic to slow down for you. Most people will yield, but sometimes it would be very dangerous to the driver to slam on the brakes with traffic behind and cannot do so.
Not forgetting that she was knocked into the southbound lane. It may be that those drivers just heard a "thump" and looked in their rear view mirror, saw nothing and thought they'd just hit the kerb or a pothole. It was dark. Also, what sort of neighborhood is this? In my area we occasionally have kids that throw stuff at cars. The drivers might have thought they were being targeted for vandalism.
The phrase that comes to mind is "contributary negligence". This lady seems to have made a bad move to begin with and it snowballed from there.
Stephanie-848791:
Regardless of your hypothesis, leaving the scene of an accident (hit and run) escalates it to a whole 'nuther level!
She could have been negligent AS HELL but the blame shifts to the drivers who didn't stop! An unavoidable accident is just that and can be explained. A hit and run makes you GUILTY of a much worse scenario.
My wife's aunt (who had dementia) stepped into the street in front of a car and was killed. The driver stopped, the police determined it was unavoidable and other than having to live with the fact they killed someone, the driver was exonerated.
Steven........."Most people will yield, but sometimes it would be very dangerous to the driver to slam on the brakes with traffic behind and cannot do so." So running over someone is the answer?
What is wrong with you all? For people that were not there you sure all have it figured out. J-walking is ILLEGAL but getting killed over it and then hearing you all say.. "Well she deserved it" is HARSH! Please have some compassion even if you think she was the one being illegal here, compassion people is all I ask. Sheeze
Geez thats terrible! Hope these people come forward.. like that comment.. all three drivers should be bound by wheelchair and hit by a bus... now that would be justice!
Actually if they ran knowing they hit someone it would be because they were scared its human instinct to leave an area when you are scared of what you did even if it was an accident. Not that i know what happened but usually when people get hit by cars its because they walk in front of the car not even seeing it and the person driving has no chance of avoiding hitting them because there is no time to react when something comes out in front of you and they are 3 feet from the front of your car. Then they lock up the person driving who was not at fault but hey thats the police country we live in. Why make the drivers suffer, not like you can change what happened anyways ya just lock up and ruin more peoples lives. I love how you people think. If the driver ran the lady down yes jail time if it was an accident why ruin more lives and families because someone who obviously has been hit on that street before didnt learn from thier mistake the first time. Its sad all around but thats life. I'll bet money there is a recording of what happened to and the public will never see it and the drivers will all be arrested and 4 families will be ruined. I'm sure everyone of your parents taught you at a very young age not to walk in the street because of the danger of cars vs humans.
How did I know this was in Delaware before I even read the story. We in Delaware have some of the most unsafe, un-pedestrian friendly roads that I have ever seen. I live in the lower eastern section of delaware, near the resorts; not only do we have NO streetlights anywhere, we also have NO pedestrian cross-over bridges, (the local movers and shakers say it's just too expensive to install these items). Every year we have a few bicyclists and pedestrians run over in the tourist areas and nothing much is ever said about it.
I feel sorry for the family and friends of the woman. However, I think some of you are missing the big picture. This is a 6 lane major hwy that has no shoulder, median, cross walk, and the speed limit is more than likely between 45 - 55. It feeds off of a freeway. Not to mention that it was night time. Not only did she endanger her life 25 years ago by doing the same thing, and paying dearly for it, she endangered her life again and those of the people she crossed in front of. This time she wasn't as lucky. If I am driving in the dark down a busy 6 lane hwy, I doubt I would have enough time to react if I came upon a person in a wheelchair in the middle of the road. Also, they mentioned a truck or SUV, perhaps they never saw what they ran over. Go sit in your car tonight and have someone sit in front of it then tell me how you would know or react going about 55. I highly doubt the 2 other cars even realized they ran over a human being. By this time she is on the ground, it is dark, and the chances of a person laying in the middle of the street are slim. I have an extremely hard time believing that 3 separate cars knowingly ran over a person and didn't stop. The fact is, they had the right of way, and while it is unfortunate and sad that this happened, her actions were the cause of her death. I think once the drivers realize that it was a person that was ran over, they will come forward.
Bwat, I agree with you. Well stated, and I sure pray that your explination of the hit and run people is true.
Such a wonderful country we have! NOT!
So move! I here there's a place down south with lush tropical forests, green mountains with waterfalls, rainbows, and even unicorns! If you get started now they might let you into their perfect world! Just be careful crossing the border!