Daughter of NY pediatrician who watched her mom fall to her death from moving ... trends now
The daughter of a Long Island pediatrician who died after falling from a moving Airstream believes the caravan had a 'significant safety oversight'.
Monika Woroniecka, 58, had just stopped for ice cream at a gas station with her family enroute to their AirBnb in Cape Vincent, New York, before falling to her death.
Woroniecka and her daughter Helena decided to ride the last 20 minutes of their trip in the $130,000 Airstream camper.
While Woroniecka was trying to secure the passenger side of the camper, she was thrown from the Airstream and died in front of her horrified family.
Speaking to the New York Post, Helena said that while her mom's death was 'pure accident', the design of the trailer suffered a 'significant safety oversight' due to the door opening inward and not outward 'against the wind'.
Dr. Woroniecka was a children's allergy and immunology specialist at Stony Brook Medicine, which she practiced for more than 20 years
Woroniecka is seen here alongside her husband Dr. Robert Woroniecka and their two daughters Alexandra and Helena
While Woroniecka was trying to secure the passenger side of the camper, she got thrown from the $130,000 Airstream
The family was on their way to view the eclipse and had just stopped for ice cream before the tragedy
She told the outlet: 'The doors on the Airstream open the opposite way that you would expect.
'It doesn’t take an engineering degree to know that on any moving vehicle, whether a bus or a car or a trailer, doors should open against the wind, not towards it.
'That seems like a significant safety oversight to me and seems like the only reason they do open that way is to protect the awning of the trailer.'
Woroniecka's husband Robert Woroniecka, 59, was driving the couple’s 2019 gray Ram pick-up truck west around 3 pm Saturday on Route 12 E in Brownville when the tragedy happened.
Witnesses behind the Airstream claimed they saw the passenger side door of the Airstream open, and Woroniecka's arm hanging on the door after the wind caused the door to swing ajar.
When emergency personnel arrived, she was transported to Samaritan Medical Center where she died.
Helena also told the outlet that her mom had named the caravan Nebula, as 'it represented adventure and exploration'.
She said: 'She loved that trailer so much and poured her soul into it. She would go in there even just to sleep at home when it was rainy and put so much love into it.
'She did also love to travel and explore, which is why my parents bought the trailer — they were planning to take an early retirement and travel to national parks and spend time exploring together.
'My mom loved her family above everything else, so the fact that my sister and I were coming home so everyone could go see the eclipse together — that’s what she was most excited for was spending time with everyone.'
Witnesses behind the Airstream claimed they saw the passenger side door of the Airstream open, and Woroniecka's arm hanging on the door after the wind caused the door to swing ajar
New York State Police continue to investigate the incident that claimed Woroniecka's life
