Updated 08/29/2011 08:51 PM
Friends mourn Voorheesville accident victims
Friends are mourning the three victims of Wednesday's fatal pedestrian accident in Voorheesville. Carol Lansing, Rose Marie Hume and Fran Pallozzi were all part of the walking group Volkssport. They were getting ready to go on a guided walk when an SUV veered off the road in front of St. Matthew's Church, hitting all three women. Solomon Syed has more.
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VOORHEESVILLE, N.Y. -- The scene from Wednesday's accident, cleared from the front of St. Matthew's Church, but three candles remain. A reminder of three lives lost here in Voorheesville.
"The three women that I knew were very nice," said Dan Schryver.
They were participating in a 10K hike, organized by Schryver. He's the historian for Capital Volkssporters, a collection of more than 300 avid walkers throughout the Capital Region.
"We were to step off at 9 o'clock and we had just finished signing people in, when something tragic happened," Schryver said.
Lansing, Hume and Pallozzi were killed by an out of control SUV. The driver, Luanne Burgess, 55, says her flip flop got stuck under the accelerator.
"Horrendous. We are still all in shock," Schryver said. "I feel very bad about the families, I feel very bad about the driver."
Family didn't answer a knock on Burgess' door. She's still at Albany Med being treated for minor injuries as authorities continue their investigation. Neighbors we spoke with say she's quiet and doesn't drive much, except to bring her foster son to the school up the road from where the accident happen.
"We're a tight-knit group. We enjoy each other's company, we enjoy walking. They died doing what they loved to do and just, our blessings go with them," Schryver said.
St. Matthew's Church plans to remember the women during a Sunday morning mass at 10:30.
Meanwhile, authorities will get support in their investigation from Toyota, the maker of the 2007 Highlander involved in the accident. Representatives from the car company will access the vehicle's so-called "black box," which collects trip data. It could tell investigators what maneuvers the car made five seconds before and after the crash, to determine if it was accelerating at the point of impact.
Also, Burgess told deputies she was actually wearing her husband's flip flops at the time of the accident. That may explain why they became stuck under the gas pedal. Though Acting Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple says inferring the flip flops are automatically too large because they belong to a male is "purely speculative," at this point.
Authorities also await the results of a toxicology report that could take at least two more days. They are checking if prescription drugs were in Burgess' system at the time of the crash.
They have ruled out alcohol as a factor.