March 28--A 79-year-old Niles woman was killed Saturday when an open door of a minivan struck her after she had asked her 13-year-old grandson to help put the vehicle into gear and it accelerated in reverse, Niles police said.
According to a news release Sunday from the Niles Police Department, Kuem S. Cho died of her injuries at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. The Cook County medical examiner's office said Cho died of multiple blunt-force injuries and her death was an accident.
Police were called to a parking lot in the 9200 block of Maryland Street about 9 p.m. Saturday, according to the release. Police learned that Cho had given the keys to her 2005 Chrysler minivan to her grandson "to assist her in placing the vehicle into gear."
According to police, Cho was walking up to the driver's side door, which was open, when "the teen shifted the vehicle into reverse with his foot accidentally on the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal." The vehicle went into reverse, and the open driver's side door struck Cho.
The Niles Fire Department transported her to the hospital. As of Sunday, an investigation was continuing.
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