A 59-year-old woman was found dead inside her car Sunday in Bloomington’s Walmart parking lot. A Monroe County Sheriff’s Office news release said she lived in the vehicle, and a bystander and firefighter who tried to render aid were bitten by dogs that were inside.
Investigators said Rosemary Hawkins may have suffered a medical emergency at 8:20 a.m., when store surveillance camera footage showed her slow-moving vehicle striking a concrete light pole base in the parking lot at the Walmart on Ind. 45 just west of Bloomington.
Her death is being investigated by the Monroe County Coroner’s Office. The official cause and manner of death is pending autopsy and toxicology testing, coroner Jeff Hall said.
Nearly four hours passed before someone called 911 at noon to report an unresponsive person inside a vehicle. “Numerous aggressive dogs were inside the vehicle, preventing access to the driver,” the news release said.
“The deceased individual had been living out of the vehicle,” the news release said, “regularly seen parked on the west side of the Walmart property.”
Monroe Fire Protection District emergency workers were the first to arrive, saw Hawkins inside and “observed approximately 8 dogs within the vehicle that were acting aggressively and preventing any approach to assess the person’s condition,” the news release said.
“In an effort to render aid, firefighters opened the door, which allowed several dogs to escape and begin aggressively charging at bystanders and emergency responders.”
Sheriff’s deputies arrived soon after and established an area in the parking lot to round up and contain the dogs. One bystander and a firefighter were bitten and suffered minor injuries. County animal control officers captured five of the dogs and city animal shelter workers found three more later in the day. All were taken to Bloomington’s animal shelter.
Police are unsure how many dogs were in the car so animal control officers will be patrolling the area over the next few days, the news release said.
Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
