ST. LOUIS — A woman who was in her car as severe storms swept through St. Louis on Saturday was killed when a tree fell on her car, according to police.
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department told FOX 2 that the woman was the only person in the car during the incident. She died after a tree fell on her car inside the car.
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SLMPD tells FOX 2 that at about 4:40 p.m. in St. Louis City, at Block 4100 of Chouteau Avenue in the southeast neighborhood of Forest Park, the tree fell.
Helen Petty, a woman who knew the victim, drew attention to the situation via Twitter. Petty, who owns a nearby hair salon, met the victim a few weeks ago when she was moving into an apartment.
Petty said the owner of her building texted her saying someone was trapped in a car. When she got there, she found the car parked in the parking lot behind her shop.
“Talking to the neighbor I found out that she was sitting in her car waiting for the storm. Her neighbor was also in the car next to her waiting for the storm to come through so quickly and the tree just fell on top of the car,” Petty said.
Petty said the neighbor said the woman was responsive, but it took her about 30 minutes to reach 911. The woman later died from her injuries.
“This has been an ongoing problem with our 911 system for years. People call, get a busy signal, and are put on hold. We don’t pay these people enough, we have an outdated system that is disjointed,” Petty said.
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She said the emergency services needed more funding. In her tweet about the tragedy, she tagged St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones and Missouri Gov. Mike Parson as saying, “We have to do better.”
The police have not yet identified the woman. Petty said when firefighters arrived they worked tirelessly to save the woman.
The St. Louis Department of Public Safety issued the following statement to FOX 2 in response to the incident:
“Today’s severe storms led to a large number of emergency calls to the police and fire brigade. The Ministry of Public Security is aware of the social media posts in question and is investigating the circumstances that led to this incident.”
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