MOORPARK : Man, Wife Injured in Freak Accident

A blind Moorpark man and his wife were badly hurt in a freak accident Thursday when a parked, driverless car suddenly rolled backward out of a driveway, veered back across the sidewalk and hit them, Ventura County sheriff’s deputies said.

The impact left Grant Schoonover, 70, with a triple shoulder fracture and bruises while his wife, Marion Schoonover, 67, suffered a broken hip. She also had skin on her arm and leg peeled back, Sheriff’s Deputy George Fitzgerald said.

The car then grazed a next-door neighbor’s car and came to a rest on the neighbor’s lawn, Fitzgerald said.

Marion Schoonover underwent surgery late Thursday and was in stable condition at Simi Valley Hospital, where her husband was listed in serious condition.

Deputies ordered the 1993 Nissan Pathfinder towed from the scene on Blairwood Drive to a storage yard where they will try to learn why it rolled out onto the sloping street.

Jody Ruano, 33, the owner of the car, said she had already parked and gone inside her house when the Nissan suddenly rolled out of the driveway. She declined further comment.

Neighbors said the car hit the Schoonovers as they were out on one of their customary walks to the neighborhood mailbox.

“She walks slowly, and he’s blind, so he walks behind her,” said neighbor Karen Cyffka, whose car was grazed by the Nissan. “They shuffle up here to get their mail and then they shuffle back down.”

No one saw the accident, but several neighbors came out afterward and saw Marion Schoonover lying on the pavement with her husband next to her, Cyffka said.

The car “did strike them, but we don’t know if it ran over them,” said Fitzgerald. Deputies are still investigating, he said.