Grim Aftermath to Services : Car Kills Woman in Church Parking Lot

A woman leaving a church service Sunday in Rancho San Diego mistakenly stepped on her car’s accelerator pedal instead of the brake as she was driving out of the parking lot, striking and killing another parishioner to the horror of an estimated 100 churchgoers.

A 64-year-old El Cajon woman was killed and two other persons were injured in the accident. The pastor said it was a miracle that not more persons were injured or killed.

The accident occurred at 1:25 p.m. as about 700 parishioners were filing out of St. Peter Chaldean Catholic Church at 2023 Jamacha Road, where they had attended a noon Mass.

The dead woman was identified by the coroner’s office as Frictoria Youkhana, who was dragged about 15 feet beneath the car. She was pulled from beneath the car when a score of fellow churchgoers lifted the vehicle.

She died en route to AMI Valley Medical Center in El Cajon, the coroner’s office said.

The California Highway Patrol said Youkhana was struck by a car driven by Margaret Hanna, 47, of El Cajon.

A CHP spokesman said Hanna was leaving the parking lot and apparently put her foot on the accelerator instead of the brake. The car jumped over a parking lot island, hit a parked car and careened towards the church’s side door, striking Youkhana, 47-year-old Elizabeth Bahadri of El Cajon and a 10-year-old boy before hitting another curb and coming to a halt. Neither Bahadri nor the boy was seriously hurt, authorities said.

“There was absolutely no warning,” said John Kalabat, a church deacon who witnessed the accident from a few feet away.

About 100 people were standing in the immediate vicinity of the side door, and their stunned silence gave way quickly to screams, wails and shouts in Aramaic, the native tongue of most of the parishioners, he said.

“We thank God no one else was killed,” said the Rev. Michael Bazzi, the pastor.

He said Chaldean Catholics on Friday will celebrate their version of All Soul’s Day and that his homily an hour earlier was “on how we always have to be prepared for death, because it can come suddenly.”

The CHP said no citation was issued to Hanna but that officers are continuing an investigation of the accident.