Solar eclipse fatality: New York pediatrician killed in Airstream trailer mishap

Stony Brook Medicine Dr. Monika Woroniecka, 58, died on Saturday after she was flung from a moving Airstream trailer on a family road trip. (Monika Woroniecka/Facebook)

Shocked motorists witnessed the horrifying moment a Long Island, New York, doctor fell out the door of a moving trailer, clutching the handle before losing her grip while on her way to watch the eclipse, police said.

New York state troopers wrote in a press release that the wind caused the door of the 2024 Airstream trailer to fly open on State Route 12E in Watertown, killing 58-year-old children's allergy and immunology specialist, Dr. Monika Woroniecka.

Troopers said the doctor was on a family road trip when disaster struck around 3 p.m. on Saturday. Her husband was driving the 2019 Dodge Ram pulling the trailer at the time of the accident. 

"Witnesses behind the Airstream claimed they saw the passenger side door of the Airstream open, Monika Woroniecka’s arm hanging on the door after the wind caused the door to swing open, causing her to be thrown from the Airstream," troopers wrote in their release.

New York State Police Trooper Jack Keller told Fox News Digital that the family was headed north to view the eclipse, and that Woroniecka's daughter and her daughter's boyfriend were in the trailer when the door opened.

She was flung from the trailer and struck her head on the shoulder of the roadway, police said. First responders rushed Woroniecka to Samaritan Medical Center's emergency room, where she soon succumbed to her injuries.