Teen Driver Pins Mom To Fence

A 16-year-old girl practicing parallel parking backed over her mother, killing her in what appears to be a tragic accident, investigators say.

"She was teaching her how to drive - it is horrific," Lisa Koch, a neighbor, told New York's WCBS.

"Evidently, she was parallel parking and she lost control when her mom was in the wrong spot," says Lisa Dadone, a neighbor.

Police say Ryta Deriso was pinned against the family's fence and the car when her 16-year-old lost control and backed into her. Paramedics pronounced the 44-year-old woman dead at the scene.

"Her daughter was in her maneuvers. In backing-up the car, apparently she hit the accelerator instead of the breaks and struck her mother," says Bob Darley, a neighbor who used to walk with the victim.

Meanwhile, grief counselors have been brought to the young girl's high school, where students take driver's education in the tenth grade. Like most of her classmates, police say the 16-year-old had a valid driving permit.

Family members are so devastated they can't even talk. Friends say Deriso also leaves behind her husband and a 12-year-old.