Hairdresser killed after running over herself in ‘terrible’ freak accident with her own SUV

Blanche Mullinger had arrived at a client’s home when she got out of her car, accidentally hit the accelerator and was pulled under the front wheels and died moments later

A hairstylist was run over by her own car outside a client’s home when she was pulled under the front wheel after exiting her automatic SUV in reverse.

Blanche Mullinger’s Mazda CX-5 had the engine running and in gear when she retrieved an object from the back of the car before returning to the front and reaching into the driver’s door.

In doing so, she accidentally stepped on the gas pedal, was pulled under the front wheels of the 1.5-ton vehicle with her foot inside, and died of a heart attack.

Her client Marzena Ozimek told the Hampshire Coroner’s Court in Winchester, Hants, that she heard Ms Mullinger scream after she stopped outside her home for an appointment.

Ms Ozimek said: “I got a call from Blanche and she said she thought she was outside my house.

“She was on her phone … I saw her, so I said I can see you now, you can put the phone down, and I started coming down the stairs. When I came down the stairs she was still on the phone. She was parked.

“I told her to hang up the phone and as I was moving out I noticed Blanche leaning forward in the open rear car door and it seemed like she was grabbing something.”

Ms Ozimek said she saw Ms Mullinger walk back to the driver’s seat as the car shot backwards.

“Then I heard Blanche scream. I ran towards her.

“I noticed that Blanche’s head was trapped under the front wheel on the right side of the car and her foot was still in the car.

“It appeared as if her foot was trapped under the dashboard while the rest of her body was on the floor.”

Ms Ozimek said she knocked on neighbors’ doors in Bordon, Hants, for help and then stopped a man driving past as she could not drive and did not want to try to move the car and cause further damage .

“The man pushed open the door to move the car. That’s how we managed to get Blanche’s head out from under the wheel. I was then advised to move her leg out of the car and then turned the car off with the on/off switch.

“Me and the man dragged her out…a streak of blood followed as she moved and it appeared to be coming from the back of her head. The blood left a stain on the road.

“By that time her face looked grey, her lips were bluish. As you looked at her, you knew she might be dead.”

Police Sergeant Jamie Barron said CCTV showed Ms Mullinger, from Bordon, accidentally hit the accelerator after leaving the car in reverse instead of parking.

He said she may have been distracted by her phone at the time of the incident on September 28 last year. She died the next day at Southampton General Hospital.

The court heard that she was unmarried and had a son, with whom she had only recently reconnected before her death.

Hampshire District Medical Examiner Rosamund Rhodes-Kemp said it was a “terrific accident” and the main cause of death was hypoxic ischemic brain injury caused by “traumatic cardiac arrest” caused by “accidental reversing of the car on itself” had been caused. .