Woman dies after hit by car in parking lot in greater Bluffton

An 87-year-old New York woman was killed Wednesday afternoon after she fell off the curb into the parking lot of Starbucks in greater Bluffton and was hit by a car, officials said Thursday.

Alice G. Howanitz, a tourist visiting from Jordan, N.Y., was struck by a 2005 Volvo driven by a 68-year-old Bluffton woman, according to Cpl. Paul Brouthers of the S.C. Highway Patrol.

The Bluffton woman was not charged in the incident, which happened around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Brouthers said. Howanitz was taken to Hilton Head Hospital, where she died of her injuries in the emergency room, according to the Beaufort County Coroner’s Office.

An autopsy is being performed today at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, according to the Coroner’s Office. Howanitz apparently stepped off the curb and fell into the parking lot, Brouthers said.