33-year-old Ebony McCrae-Curley was visiting friends and family in Atlanta over the Easter weekend from her Connecticut home when the incident occurred. McCrae-Curley was reportedly standing with a group of other people outside a restaurant close to the corner of Juniper and 11th streets in Midtown Atlanta on Saturday night at around 12:30 a.m. when it happened.
At the time, a valet driver from Sunshine Parking was in the process of parking a vehicle. However, after parking the car, the driver climbed out of the vehicle, forgetting to put it in park.
According to Atlanta police, the car then began to roll backwards towards the group of people and another vehicle. Lt. Bryan Paden said on noticing that the vehicle was moving, the valet driver jumped back into the car, but in his panic the driver inadvertently hit the gas pedal instead of the brake. The car then moved back rapidly, hitting the group of pedestrians.
Woman killed, 5 hurt in Atlanta valet parking accident - Atlanta Journal Constitution: Atlanta Journal… https://t.co/O2rMtkq1AK #Atlanta pic.twitter.com/T5izNoD3D5
— Atlanta Georgia (@AtlantaGeorgi) April 15, 2017
One person dead, five others injured in valet parking accident
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution quotes Stephanie Brown, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta police, as saying that McCrae-Curley was pinned between the vehicles and severely injured in the Freak Accident.
She was reportedly pronounced dead at 12:57 a.m. Brown added that the other five pedestrians in the group were taken to Grady Memorial Hospital where they are in a stable condition and are expected to survive their injuries.
Patrick Brooks is the manager of Einstein’s restaurant, located close to the scene of the accident and he said it was a “freak, weird, horrible accident.” According to Brooks, McCrae-Curley was in Atlanta to celebrate Easter with family and friends when it happened and that staff at the restaurant are very sad.
Brooks added that Sunshine Parking, the valet company in question, has surveillance video footage of the accident that police will thoroughly review during their investigations. However, according to police, the valet driver is not expected to face any charges and was not taken into custody.
1 killed, 5 injured after valet driver accidentally hits gas instead of brake: https://t.co/mBguq5CRN7 | @MJohnsonWSB reports, at 11 pic.twitter.com/3SAF26Gkni
— WSB-TV (@wsbtv) April 16, 2017
Sunshine Parking ‘devastated’ by the tragic accident
According to a report by WSB-TV Atlanta, Sunshine Parking later released a statement to say their entire team is devastated by the freak accident which occurred between one of their staff members and a guest on Saturday night. The statement added that their thoughts and prayers are with McCrae-Curley’s family during this tragic time.