An 87-year-old Brooklyn woman who was run over by her own car Wednesday had been praying in the vehicle in her driveway for 20 minutes right before the deadly accident, her heartbroken son said.
Joan Behan, a grandmother of 10 and devout Christian, had just returned home from a two-hour workout and stepped out of her blue 2013 Toyota Corolla after she finished her routine prayers, according to her son.
But tragedy struck as she was walking behind her car, which she never put into park.
The car rolled backward and crushed her in a freak accident outside her Gravesend home on West 10th Street at about 3 p.m., police said.
Behan suffered severe head and torso trauma and was rushed to NYU Langone Hospital-Brooklyn but she couldn’t be saved.
The octogenarian was very active, healthy and sharp and went to the gym multiple times a week, her 60-year-old son said.
“Before the accident yesterday, she just came home from a two-hour workout,” David Behan said. “She stayed in the car in her driveway for about 20 minutes to pray. She always did that.”
“Then she wanted to get out of her car when the accident happened and she died.”
Her son said she worked as a teacher’s aide when she was younger and had four kids, 10 grandkids and one great-grandbaby.
“She made everybody’s life always very happy — no matter who she spoke to,” he said. “She had a happy saying about everything. Everybody loved her.”