Woman headed for girls trip struck, killed as she tries to get luggage off road

A woman was struck and killed in a car accident in Alabama as she was trying to retrieve luggage that had fallen from her car onto the road, the Daphne Police Department said.

Elizabeth Ann Atkinson, 47, was heading for a girls' trip with her two daughters and two friends early Tuesday morning when the accident happened, a spokesperson of the police department told USA TODAY.

Police said that they first received a report about a woman attempting to "retrieve spilled luggage" from a roadway on State Hwy 181 near Rigsby Road around 6:18 a.m. on Tuesday. Shortly after, around 6:25 a.m., they received a second call about a pedestrian that had been struck by a vehicle in the same vicinity.

When officers and medics arrived at the scene, they determined that Atkinson had been involved and killed in the crash. She lived nearby, said the police.

Traffic homicide investigators examined the event data recorder from the vehicle that hit Atkinson and said that it was traveling within the posted speed limit and was not over speeding.

"Neither alcohol nor excessive speed is believed to have played a role in this incident," said the police.

Additional investigation into the accident ongoing.

Saman Shafiq is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at sshafiq@gannett.com and follow her on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter @saman_shafiq7.