From the Maryland State Police:
(Aberdeen, MD) – On 08-09-2012 at approx. 2050 hours the JFK Highway barrack received a call in reference to a pedestrian struck on N/B I-95 at the 85.5 mm in Harford County MD.
Upon Troopers arrival, they observed one passenger vehicle stopped on the slow shoulder. The vehicle was identified as a 2012 Dodge Van. The operator of the Dodge was identified as Paththini Wickramarathne of Long Beach, California.
The investigation revealed the Dodge Van was traveling on N/B I-95 just north of the Aberdeen interchange. The pedestrian was struck after she stepped into the path of the Dodge Van traveling in the left northbound lane of I-95. Wickramarathne received minor injuries as a result of the collision and was transported to Harford Memorial hospital in
Havre de Grace for treatment.
Christine Elizabeth Eldin, 46, of West Friendship Maryland drove her 2012 Volvo north on interstate 95 and stopped on the left shoulder where she exited her vehicle. Letters were found in the vehicle which indicates that Eldin intentionally stepped into oncoming traffic to commit suicide. No mechanical defects were discovered that would have
warranted Eldin to stop her vehicle for an emergency.
Eldin’s body was transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiners office in Baltimore where an autopsy will be performed.
The roadway was closed for approximately three hours for the on scene investigation. The roadway was reopened at 11:46 p.m.
That poor driver of the vehicle who hit her. They will be scarred for life because she used them to commit suicide. God help him deal with this.
Can I get her car. She won’t need it?
I guess this was a “testing” issue too ?
I would suggest that the driver of the dodge litigate against the estate of the suicidal woman.
Litigate? Seriously? I don’t agree with that “advice” at all. In fact, that is probably the last thing the family of the deceased woman would need…a lawsuit to contend with.
It is truly sad that anyone could be so depressed and hopeless about any of life’s situations that they’d feel compelled to commit suicide.
I also feel deeply sorry for the driver who was unwittingly used to carry out the act. I agree with the comments of Linda Heilman.
Indeed. From the brief web searching I did on the woman, she had two young boys. How a mother could do that to her children is beyond imagination. I’d be interested to see if she had recently started taking “anti-depressant” drugs which commonly have the side-effect of suicidal thoughts.
Very sad for those two boys, my heart really goes out to them.
Our hearts should go out to her family. Before we pass judgement on her, we need to think what possibly was going on in her life that led her to such a desperate act. Yes, the person that hit her will be justifiably upset…but you have to wonder what her thoughts were….she had to be at her wit’s end. We should be praying for everyone involved….especially her children.
It is sad, my heart hurt for the children, I know what it is like to be motherless at a young age. Though she is gone my heart hurt for her because it hurt to think that there was nobody she felt close enough to and share how she was feeling. We must stop being so judgemental of people even when they come to us hurting regardless of what their struggle is, we must show compassion to help them get through where they are. I pray for the Peace of God over the family and the driver that this will not haunt them and or keep them from moving forward and fulfilling their purpose in life. I pray their experience will cause them to reach out to people so that this does not continue to happen in abundance of the lives of people.