HOUSTON – A minivan driver looking to avoid traffic inside Houston National Cemetery on Mother’s Day was captured in a startling video running over the gravestones of military veterans.
The disrespectful incident took place Sunday following a flyover from the Lone Star Flight Museum to commemorate the 75th anniversary of VE Day – the end of World War II in Europe.
“I was shocked, and never would have expected that to happen,” Jeremiah Johnston, who recorded the footage, told KTRK. “This is Houston, and there are crazy drivers, and I never would have expected to see them going through a cemetery. Especially when everyone was there to pay their respects during a patriotic flyover.”
It is Dodge SUV. Hope someone can track her down, this is horrible! pic.twitter.com/ZrGPzpfzKn
— Nicole Brown (@ThingsbyNicole) May 11, 2020
Amanda Hill and her family went to the Houston National Cemetery on Sunday to watch the flyover. Moreover, they planned to witness it standing near the grave of her grandparents, Robert Eugene Marsh and his wife, Ruth, who were laid to rest in the cemetery.
Marsh was a lieutenant in the Air Force, in a division known as the Bloody Hundred, which did bombing runs over Germany.
For them, and many other people who were at the cemetery, it was a tribute to the veterans and a chance to visit the graves of loved ones. Instead, some people witnessed the bizarre incident, which outraged the Hill family.
Hill told the station that the woman was trying to race out of the area as soon as the flyover ended, Fox reported.
“She tried to back up, and then went up on the curb of the section where my grandparents are buried,” Hill said. “[The woman] couldn’t get around some cars, and then she started running over the graves.
“She heard us yelling at her to stop, and just kept doing it,” Hill added, estimating that the woman drove over dozens of graves. “My mother approached the van, and the driver told her she had to get out.”
The driver, as of Monday, has not been identified. The Harris County Constable’s Office told KTRK they have not received any reports regarding the incident.
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Update:
Police located the woman and have withdrawn any criminal charges. Police said the woman was cooperative and claimed she drove over the graves because her husband, who is also a veteran, was feeling ill from his diabetes, according to a release from Harris County Constable Precinct 4.
She has been ordered to pay for damages and was ticketed for driving on cemetery grounds, Houston Chronicle reported.
