
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 30, 1993                   TAG: 9307300164
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                LENGTH: Short

CHUNK OF BRAKE DRUM KILLS PICKUP PASSENGER

A woman was killed when a 27-pound piece of a brake drum broke off a tractor-trailer on the Capital Beltway and hurtled into the cabin of the pickup truck in which she was riding, authorities said.

Valerie A. Coburn, 34, of Chantilly was pronounced dead at Alexandria Hospital shortly after she was struck in the neck Tuesday night.

Coburn was a passenger in a westbound pickup driven by her brother-in-law, John Coburn, 29, of Centreville. He was driving his sister and her family back from a boating trip on the Potomac River.

Police said the eastbound brake drum chunk likely was traveling more than 100 mph when it flew through the front window of the truck. After it struck Valerie Coburn, it shot out the back window, narrowly missed her two children who were riding in the bed and slammed against the pickup's tailgate.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
VATALITY

by CNB