The grieving husband of a British grandmother tragically killed by a suspected intoxicated driver shared his harrowing experience during an inquest, recounting his desperate attempt to prevent her from being struck again.
Lisa Di Palma, aged 61, was fatally hit twice by the same vehicle while attempting to cross a dual carriageway en route to dinner in Fethiye, located in southwestern Turkey. The incident occurred on August 6 of the previous year, as detailed in the inquest.
Keith Di Palma, 57, relayed to Walthamstow Coroner’s Court how a driver, appearing out of nowhere, sped towards them and collided with his wife, narrowly avoiding him.
Originally from Hornchurch in east London, Mrs. Di Palma, a grandmother of four, was urgently taken to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries a week later.
The inquest revealed that the driver had a blood alcohol level four times the legal limit for driving in Turkey and is slated to face a criminal trial in the country later this year.
Coroner Nadia Persaud read an emotional statement from Mr. Di Palma, marking his first public account of the devastating event.
He said: ‘I jumped out of the way, with the car brushing my back. But Lisa, who was slightly behind me, had no chance to get out of the way.
‘The driver hit her full on and pushed her approximately five to six metres in front of the vehicle.
‘Lisa was conscious, but had blood coming from her head and she was still on the floor.
Keith Di Palma has told an inquest of how his wife Lisa Di Palma was run over during a holiday in Turkey in August last year and later died – the couple are pictured together
Lisa Di Palma (pictured), from Hornchurch in east London, died a week after she was knocked down on a pedestrian crossing by an alleged drunk driver
A photo from the scene shows three police officers taking a suspect, who was allegedly under the influence, into custody
‘I tried to get the driver out of the car, but he refused, as I was pulled away by a bystander.
‘I got to the front of the car and he started driving forward towards Lisa. With all my strength, I tried to stop him from driving further.’
Mr Di Palma said he and two Turkish bystanders had to lift the car off his wife while another man pulled the driver out.
Still alive and able to talk, Lisa was rushed to A&E at the local state hospital before being taken to the Muğla University Hospital – a 74-mile, two-hour drive away.
Lisa had been left with pelvic and hip fractures, shoulder fractures, skull fractures, twelve broken ribs, a slight bleed in the lungs, a slight bleed on the brain, signs of kidney failure and a burn on her leg from where the driver’s vehicle had been driven over her, doctors said.
After an X-ray and CT scan, she was transfered to Letoon private hospital for an operation – just 10 minutes from the accident site.
Doctors planned to operate again on August 13 after she had time to rest.
But Mr Di Palma and their eldest daughter Danielle who had flown out to Turkey to visit her mother noticed she looked bloated. Doctors said that this was due to a bowel blockage which was being treated.
The British couple ran the Tigers Junior Football Club in east London for over two decades
Posting on social media, her husband Keith Di Palma, described how his wife had sustained multiple injuries after the ‘horrific’ incident. He also mentioned how a video of the crash went viral and saw him hounded by the Turkish press
The next morning they were called and told to rush to the hospital as Mrs Di Palma’s heart had stopped. Doctors had revived her after 10 minutes of CPR but had to put her into an induced coma.
At 5am the next morning, on what should have been the day of the second operation, the family received another call to tell them they need to hurry to the hospital once again.
However, despite an hour of CPR, it was too late and Mrs Di Palma died.
Mr Di Palma said after the hearing his family had been hounded by the Turkish press after a video of the crash went viral on social media.
He also criticised the conduct of the Turkish hospital at the heartbreaking moment. They were unable to say their final goodbye to their beloved mother and wife.
He said: ‘It was discompassionate when she died. We weren’t allowed to see her at first in the ward.
‘Then we got asked if we wanted to say our goodbyes, in front of my two daughters – which was so distressing.
‘They wheeled her out in a body bag, literally in front of her two children, unzipped it, let us see her. I gave her a little kiss, and to that day that was the last time I saw her.
‘When they flew her body back into the UK, the coroners’ office took the body and said that she hadn’t been looked after and we were advised not to look at the body because it would upset us too much. So, that was the last time we saw her.’
The court heard the Turkish crash report noted that the driver had a blood alcohol level of 2.14 milligrams per millilitre – more than four times the Turkish limit of 0.5.
It added that there were ‘no signs of braking or tyre marks’ of the vehicle from before the point of impact or after it.
Lisa’s medical cause of death was given as multiple injuries due to a road traffic collision.
The driver Senay Koparal is facing a criminal trial in Turkey later this year, the inquest heard.
Following the hearing, Keith said Lisa, who worked in grassroots football, had recently lost more than 6st in weight and was the ‘most confident’ she’d ever been.
He said: ‘She was the football community in one.
‘From us having our children, she gave up work when my youngest daughter had her first child, she gave up work so my daughter could go back to work.
‘She gave her life and soul to looking after her grandchildren and continuing with grass-roots football, getting more involved.
‘Everybody said she changed the face of grass-roots football with her kind attitude.’
A fundraiser has been set up to help out the family on GoFundMe and has already reached £23,000 in donations.
The family have since set up the Lisa Di Palma Foundation, to help underprivileged children get into sports.
Keith said: ‘Lisa was always about giving and not taking, she’d make sure the football club was the cheapest so anyone could attend.
‘If anyone was struggling, she’d either pay herself or bend over backwards so that child could get involved.’
