LITTLE ROCK — A 3-year-old Alabama girl who was struck by a vehicle at a West Memphis funeral home Thursday during the visitation for her greatgrandmother died early Friday, authorities said.
Three of her family members were also injured when the driver of the vehicle crossed two streets before careening into Roller-Citizens Funeral Home at 201 N. Pine St. in the Crittenden County town Thursday evening.
“It’s a horrible, horrible situation,” West Memphis Police Chief Donald Oakes said. “It was a horrible chain of events.”
Isabella Rushing, 3, of Townley, Ala., and other family members were struck by a Ford Explorer driven by Shannon Morgan, 41, of West Memphis, police said.
Injured were Isabella’s grandmother, Brenda Rushing, 54, of Jasper, Ala., who was listed in critical condition at Regional Medical Center in Memphis; Isabella’s mother, Amanda Rushing, 30, of Townley, Ala., who was released Friday morning from Regional Medical Center; and Isabella’s sister, Georgia Rushing, 5, of Townley, Ala., who was released Friday from Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis.
Morgan was treated at Crittenden Regional Hospital in West Memphis and released Thursday.
Morgan left her job at a restaurant on Broadway Street about two blocks south of the funeral home at 7:50 p.m. Thursday and began driving home, Oakes said.
“She apparently had some medical event,” the police chief said. “We have no information that would lead us to believe it was alcohol- or drug-related.”
Investigators are waiting on the results of blood tests, he said.
Morgan apparently passed out and stepped on the Explorer’s accelerator, Oakes said. She drove across Thompson Avenue and East Bond Avenue before driving onto the lawn of the funeral home.
The Explorer then struck the southwestern edge of the building and drove under a covered walkway before it stopped.
Randall Rushing, 29, pulled his 5-year-old daughter out of the Explorer’s path but could not reach his 3-year-old, Oakes said. The father was not injured.
“I couldn’t have started where [Morgan] was and driven the same route without striking something,” Oakes said. “Six feet to the left, and she’d have hit a fountain. Six feet to the right, and she’d hit the side of the building.
“She threaded the needle. It’s very tragic.”
The family was attending visitation services for Isabella’s great-grandmother, Allie Rushing, 83, of Granbury, Texas, who was formerly of West Memphis and died June 15.
There were two other visitations Thursday night at the funeral home, said Bill Booker, president of Roller Funeral Homes.
The funeral home did not close because of the accident, he said.
A column was knocked over and the side of the building was “scraped,” but there was no major damage, Booker said.
Members of Allie Rushing’s family requested that the funeral be held Friday as scheduled, he said.
“Our folks are in shock,” Booker said Friday. “You just can’t imagine something like that. The area where it happened is a common gathering place. As many people who were struck, it could have been so many more.
“Our thoughts and prayers are focusing on this family.”
Less than two months ago, Roller-Farmers Funeral Home in Jonesboro burned when members of a work crew ignited a blaze when they poured hot tar on the roof of the funeral home. The fire destroyed the funeral home.
‘That was bad,” Booker said. “But nothing compares to the death and injury suffered Thursday.”
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 06/23/2012