Examiner: Head injury killed reservist

By DAVID PEDREIRA

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2000

TAMPA -- A retired lieutenant colonel reservist killed in a bizarre accident at MacDill Air Force Base suffered a blow to the head that fractured her skull, a medical examiner said Saturday.

But the autopsy report sheds little light on what happened Friday when Donna Jo Norder, 46, of Lakeland, tried to pull into a parking lot near the U.S. Special Operations Command in the center of the base.

Norder, a contractor for the Department of Defense, used her key card to gain access to the lot. As she drove forward, a security gate that is supposed to retract into the ground suddenly popped back up underneath her car.

The 3-foot-high gate lifted the front of her Pontiac Bonneville, deploying both air bags, said Master Sgt. Greg Bade, a MacDill spokesman. The car's windshield cracked, probably from the force of the air bags being deployed, Bade said.

Safety officers at the base sealed off the parking lot Saturday and are conducting an investigation into the gate malfunction.

While there were no witnesses, Bade said a nearby surveillance camera may have taped the accident.

After seeing the car, Bade was stunned to learn Norder had died. He speculated the force of the car's air bag may have killed Norder, who was 5 foot 2.

"When I arrived at the scene, it looked like a very innocent thing," Bade said. "There didn't appear to be any major structural damage to the car."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.