Nevada woman struck, killed by own running car in Reno lot

RENO — A 72-year-old woman apparently was struck and killed by her own car in a parking lot after she got out of the running vehicle to enter a post office in south Reno, authorities said Friday.

A witness came across the woman on the ground in an empty parking spot with extensive injuries Wednesday at the Steamboat Post Office near Bishop Manogue High School, the Washoe County sheriff’s office said.

A second witness noticed an unoccupied Lexus had crashed into two parked cars and was still running in reverse gear. The witness turned off the ignition.

Sheriff’s deputies responded to the scene at about 4 p.m. and the woman was transported to a regional hospital where she later was pronounced dead.

Sheriff’s investigators determined the woman, whose name has not been released, was the registered owner of the Lexus. They believe she “was struck by her own vehicle after she exited it in order to enter the post office,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

The Washoe County Regional Medical’s Office determined she died of traumatic injuries.