Napa Earthquake Claims First Victim

Two weeks after Napa Valley recorded the worst earthquake it has experienced in recent history, the 6.0 quake has claimed the life of a 65-year-old woman who died as a result of a brain injury she incurred when she was struck in the head by a television.

Laurie Ann Thompson passed away at 9:35 am Friday at the Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa. Napa County Sheriff’s Captain Steve Blower said the cause of death was an intracranial hemorrhage resulting from an injury suffered during the quake, according to CBS San Francisco.

Thompson had reportedly fallen asleep on a recliner in her living room which was situated approximately 2.5 feet from a television that was not secured to the wall or the stand it was placed on, according to the Los Angeles Times. Shortly after the 3:20 am earthquake struck, the television came crashing down on Thompson, knocking her unconscious.

She woke up on the floor with a black eye, the television next to her, her daughter Shannon Johnson told the Times. Thompson had downplayed her injury to her family and opted against being taken to the hospital, electing to take an Aspirin instead in hopes that the headache would subside. 

Her daughter later found out that her mother had sent a text to a friend indicating she had a “horrible” headache, the Times notes. Johnson went to visit her mom again, when she noticed a deterioration in her cognitive functions and finally convinced her to go to the hospital. However, she had collapsed before they left.

Upon arriving at the hospital, Thompson was diagnosed with a massive subdural hematoma, a condition in which bleeding fills the brain. The Times notes that she had brain surgery that night, but her condition did not improve, and she ultimately succumbed to her injuries on Friday morning. 

“There are people that don’t take it seriously. And they need to. They just need to,” her daughter said. “She was fine. And then she wasn’t fine.”