Woman Killed by Electric Car Window

A woman in eastern France was killed in a freak accident while cleaning her car, according to French media outlets cited by People. Bernadette Delmotte, 60, was cleaning her Fiat 500 on June 13 in Saone-et-Loire when, investigators believe, the car began to roll backward. Delmotte apparently leaned through the open window to reach the hand brake, which she'd forgotten to set, but in the process, she inadvertently activated the switch for the automatic window, which closed on her neck. "By the time she straightened up, the window stopped on her neck," says a friend.

Delmotte's friends grew concerned when she didn't arrive for a planned dinner and couldn't be reached by phone. Later, they discovered her body trapped by the car window at her home. An autopsy confirmed asphyxiation as the cause of death, and authorities ruled it an accident, finding no signs of foul play. As the Mirror reports, a similar death took place in Ukraine in 2021.

Delmotte's brother, Francois, told local media he initially struggled to grasp what had happened, thinking at first it must have been a more typical car accident. "At first, even the police were confused," he recalled. Francois said he's not seeking damages from Fiat but did send a letter to the company, expressing hope that the incident might prompt safety changes to prevent similar tragedies.