(WHDH) — A 60-year-old woman died when she reportedly fell in her kitchen and landed on a metal drinking straw, which impaled her eye and pierced her brain.
Elena Struthers-Gardner, a retired jockey, suffered fatal brain injuries in the accident at her home in England, according to USA Today.
Struthers-Gardner was carrying a drink with a screw-on lid when she fell. The 10-inch straw she was sipping from went through her left eye and struck her brain.
The news outlet says Struthers-Gardner’s shocking death prompted authorities to warn that metal drinking staws should never be used with a lid that holds them in place.
Struthers-Gardner’s wife had found her face down on the floor and rushed her to an area hospital. She was pronounced dead the following day.
Her November 2018 death had been under investigation but authorities just recently announced the cause of death was a traumatic brain injury and the manner of death was accidental in nature.
Struthers-Gardner had suffered a riding accident at the age of 21 and was said to be prone to falls.
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