RONCEVERTE, W.Va. — A Greenbrier County woman was killed when a large tree slammed into her car as she drove toward her home.
Patricia Erskine, 68, was driving north on Coffman Hill Road at about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday when the tree fell from the hillside above the road and crushed her car. Erskine was pronounced dead at the scene, according to West Virginia state police.
“You couldn’t have timed it any worse for her,” said Sgt. Drew Pendleton. “It’s like being struck by lightning. There’s no easy way to tell her husband. It’s one of the bad parts of the job. I didn’t even know how to describe how bizarre and crazy it was.”
The base of the tree apparently was weakened by the recent snow and rain.
“The top of it just came over flat almost like you had cut it, just from the base of it,” Pendleton said. “It came all the way down the mountain like it was going to cross the road.”