Man dies in Old Mill Park incident

MORE: Read more news from Fredericksburg

Robert A. Martin / The Free Lance-Star

UPDATE (4:01 p.m.): Police have identified the victim as Paul Hinson. The cause of his death is still undetermined, but police believe it’s likely the 51-year-old Stafford resident suffered some kind of medical emergency before losing control of the car and crashing into a tree next to a shelter.

The victim’s friend, Charles Randall, was at Old Mill Park waiting for Hinson and other friends who regularly take walks there.

Hinson pulled his 1998 Mercury into the lot shortly before 11 a.m. Randall saw him arrive, driving slow as normal. After he turned away he heard gravel start to kick up. Then he heard the car crash into a tree next to the shelter.

“It was like a bomb going off,” Randall said.

Witnesses came to Hinson’s aid. Initially, he was still conscious, said Fredericksburg Police Department spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe. But Hinson quickly lost consciousness, and that’s when witnesses started CPR. A pair of Fredericksburg police officers soon showed up and started CPR and used a portable defibrillator before rescue personnel arrived and treated the man, who nevertheless died next to his car.

“It’s really a shame,” Randall said.

Bledsoe said the cause of death hasn’t been  determined, but it appears that Hinson suffered a medical emergency.

ORIGINAL POST

A 51-year-old Stafford County man died at Old Mill Park in Fredericksburg Thursday morning after his car sped through the gravel parking lot, across a grassy area and into a tree next to a shelter. It was unclear what happened, but police said the man possibly suffered a medical emergency before losing control of the car.

After the crash, a bystander performed CPR on the man, said a friend of the victim. Fredericksburg Police officers arrived and tried to help the man with a portable defibrillator and by performing CPR until rescue workers arrived on the scene and took over.

“It sure does look like a medical emergency,” said Natatia Bledsoe, Fredericksburg Police Department spokeswoman.

She said detectives are on the scene to determine exactly what happened.

Police are trying to contact the man’s relatives before releasing his name, she said.

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/newsdesk/2012/07/26/man-dies-in-old-mill-park-incident/