A 93-year-old woman has died after being struck by an on-duty police officer in a Maryland parking lot, authorities confirmed.
The incident happened on Friday, Aug. 15, at around 6:45 a.m. when a non-uniformed Howard County Police Department officer driving an unmarked GMC Acadia was backing out of a space at Dobbin Center in Columbia, according to a police news release.
The woman, who has not been publicly identified, was walking in the travel portion of the lot when she was hit. She was taken to a shock trauma center, where she was later pronounced dead.
Police said speed does not appear to have been a factor in the collision, though the investigation is still ongoing. The officer involved, a member of the Technical Support Section, has been placed on “standard administrative leave.”
The Howard County Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Several people told WBAL that the victim was a familiar presence in the shopping center, often eating breakfast at Panera Bread before walking around the parking lot.
“I’ve seen her — the same people come every morning,” said Jack Backiel, a frequent visitor to the café. “She would just walk across the parking lot. She’d come out and she’d be with somebody.”
Another local worker added that the layout of the lot made speeding unlikely.
“This parking lot is not set up for that, even if you tried to speed, you wouldn’t get too far,” Saint Tucker told the outlet. “So, I couldn’t even say they were rushing to a call or anything like that, I honestly do feel like it was an accident, if anything.”
