By T.S. EVANS
Staff Writer

VENTNOR – A Ventnor woman was seriously injured Tuesday morning when she was pinned between a car and the delivery truck she was unloading, according to police.

Sumi Bharoocha, 39, was struck by a vehicle driven by Neil Lansman, 62, of Rydal, Pa. at about 11:30 in the 7200 block of Atlantic Avenue, police said. She had been removing goods from the back of a delivery truck that was servicing her luggage business, Dony Simon Plus.

The impact caused serious injury to the woman's lower extremities, according to Capt. Andrew Lacovara of the Ventnor Fire Department.

“We immediately put tourniquets on both her legs,” Lacovara said. “The woman was moved to the side of the vehicle and she was screaming, so we worked to calm her and her husband.”

He said Bharoocha was awake the entire time she received emergency treatment and during her transport to the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center trauma unit, where she was in critical condition.

The accident is under investigation by Detective Jason Rzemyk of the Fatal/Serious Crash Unit in Ventnor. 

Lt. Mike Miller of the Ventnor police said neither age nor alcohol was a factor in the accident, nor was a cell phone involved.

“As far as they can tell, so far it is strictly an accident,” he said.

The victim knew the driver of the car, Miller noted.

Eleven firefighters from the fourth platoon under Lacovara along with Fire Chief Bert Sabo responded.

Many of the responders said the incident was reminiscent of the July 2006 accident in which postal worker Maureen DePrince was pinned behind her mail truck by a New York driver who police said had been drinking prior to the accident. 

Sabo said Wednesday that in all his years of firefighting, he had never seen two accidents that were so similar.