On May 27, 2009 at 12:04 P.M. the Santa Monica Police Department responded to a call of a pedestrian trapped under a vehicle at the intersection of 11th Street and Pearl Street. Officers arrived and assisted the victim.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the driver, a female, white, 56 years of age from Santa Monica, was having mechanical problems with the vehicle’s starter. She crawled under the front of the car and started it by touching the starter solenoid with a screwdriver.

The vehicle, aparantly left in drive with the emergency brake off, rolled forward and onto the woman. She was dragged a short distance and run over by the right front wheel.

She was treated at the scene by the Santa Monica Fire Department and transported to a local hospital where she was pronounced dead.