First responders struggled to free a woman killed Monday afternoon after she drove her car over a 30- to 40-foot embankment in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington neighborhood, flipping the vehicle upside-down and landing atop an abandoned garage below.

Firefighters’ feet literally sunk into the roof of the garage, which already was caving in on itself, as they tried to reach the driver, Pittsburgh police spokeswoman Emily Bourne said.

The driver, who police believe was a woman and the only occupant of the vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Aileena Louise Davis, 33, of Pittsburgh, was identified as woman who died in the crash by the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.

At about 3 p.m., the woman was driving southbound on Lincoln Avenue near the Small Steps for Little Wonders daycare facility when she swerved off the road near Apple Street, Bourne said.

At 3pm, Police, Fire, & EMS responded to the intersection of Lincoln Ave. & Apple St. for a single-vehicle collision.

The driver, an adult female, was the sole occupant of the vehicle. She was pronounced deceased at the scene.

Full info: https://t.co/hiWVl7PyQ7 pic.twitter.com/9nxAXlLFYn

— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) December 12, 2023

She darted through the parking lot of a nearby convenience store, Bourne said. The woman then crashed through a Jersey-style concrete barrier, a metal fence and possibly a tree before going airborne and crashing to the detached garage on Spin Way below, Bourne said.

Police are “not sure if speed was a factor,” she said.

At about 4 p.m., officers announced on the police scanner they were shutting down part of Lincoln Avenue, near a Family Dollar store a block away, due to “a fatal vehicle accident.”

About 90 minutes later, emergency responders, their fluorescent vests visible through the hillside’s thick brush, still were struggling to reach the woman due to the instability of the garage’s roof.

Bourne said she expected the work, which was aided by an enormous crane with a yellow-and-orange arm, to take hours as Lincoln-Lemington grew dark — and cold — after sunset Monday.

Bourne said public safety officials had not been able to identify the driver. They weren’t even 100% sure the driver was female, she said.

First responders were able to confirm, though, that the driver had no pulse, Bourne said.

Editor’s note: This story was updated Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023, with the identification of the driver.

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