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Woman killed while walking to work in Rockville
A woman in her seventies was struck and killed as she walked to work Wednesday morning.
ROCKVILLE, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A woman in her seventies was struck and killed as she walked to work on Wednesday morning in Montgomery County.
Police say the driver of an SUV hit the woman just after 7 a.m. in the 2600 block of McAuliffe Drive in the Twinbrook area of Rockville.
Her employer, the owner of the daycare, says Chandra Perrera had just left the bus stop on Veirs Mill Road and was walking to work when she was hit in the middle of McAuliffe Drive.
Police have identified the striking driver as Sylvia McNickle of Rockville who remained at the scene.
Sherry Morgan, a neighbor, who witnessed the aftermath says McNickle was distraught.
"Oh yeah, very much so, very much so she was - they were keeping her very nice and calm and all and I wasn't close enough to tell you how old she was but she was very upset and rightly so," said Morgan.
As police worked the scene this morning, officers got into the silver Chevy Suburban and drove it quickly down McAuliffe apparently testing the brakes. They did this several times.
The man who owns the daycare, Palitha Wanithasingha, says Pererra was just a block from work when she was killed. He says she was not married, had no children and would send some of her earnings home to family in Sri Lanka.
"She is like my sister", he said. "She doesn't have anybody she is living in my home my other home so... she is so kind... she is helping the kids all the time and the kids love her she is a really good lady".
On Tuesday, during his confirmation hearing Chief Marcus Jones said pedestrian accidents are a real concern.
"I will tell you that I take this very seriously", said Jones. "What I think a lot of folks in the county may not realize that we actually have more fatal collisions in the county than we do homicides."
Montgomery County police say so far this year 11 pedestrians and one cyclist have been killed. In 2018, 14 pedestrians and one cyclist died on county roads.