Uninvited Family Member at Mom’s Funeral Mows Down Sister, Tips Casket, and Floods Grave Site
A funeral meant to celebrate the life of an elderly woman in Northern California turned into comical mayhem after an uninvited family member stormed the service, ran over guests with a car, tipped over the casket, and struck a water main.
The extraordinary sendoff happened at the Contra Costa County cemetery inside Richmond’s Rolling Hills Memorial Park on Saturday, but was not, apparently, entirely unanticipated.
“A family member brought a stun gun to the services because of longstanding family issues,” Sgt. Aaron Pomeroy of the Richmond Police Department, told reporters after things calmed down.
The uninvited guest, thought to be a brother of the daughter of the dead matriarch, reportedly started a fight with his sister, whose boyfriend then intervened. The uninvitee, who has not been publicly named, then got into his car and tried to strike his sister with it, but instead somehow hit another relative. That woman suffered injuries and was treated and released at a nearby hospital.
“One of the family members tried to run over his sister with the vehicle,” said Pomeroy. “He gets into an argument with his sister, The sister’s boyfriend comes to the rescue. [The suspect] gets into a fight with the sister’s boyfriend and punches him. At some point, [the suspect] goes back to his vehicle and gets in it.”
During the moving-car component of the proceedings, several tombstones were damaged and the matriarch’s casket fell off its stand, according to several press reports. Shortly after the casket went for a ride, the car hit a water main, which led to a strong burst of water that flooded the area, including the still-empty grave where the casket was supposed to be buried.
Police say the man caused around $20,000 in damage to the cemetery. “He drove over some headstones, damaged some headstones, severed a water main, caused flooding in the area before they could shut the water off,” Pomeroy added, according to Mercury News.
The director of the Rolling Hills park told Mercury News that the “bizarre incident” in no way reflects the standard operating procedure of the cemetery.
“Do not worry at all, your loved ones interned here are very safe and our staff is here to assist any of the families,” Kamilah Thompson told NBC Bay Area News, adding that the cemetery would pick up the cost to replace the damaged tombs.
The unruly uninvited guest faces a number of criminal charges. It is not known if the matriarch has yet been interred. Thanksgiving dinner, however, will surely be interesting.
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