LI doctor who died during family road trip should never have been in RV, Airstream says
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The Long Island doctor who was fatally thrown out of her family’s Airstream should never have been in the RV while it was in motion, the manufacturer says.
Dr. Monika Woroniecka, 58, was not following Airstream’s guidance when she was hurled out of the door of the moving trailer and onto State Route 12E in upstate New York around 3 p.m. Saturday, the company said.
“Airstream travel trailers are not designed to carry passengers while in motion,” the company said in a statement.
“The safety protocol detailed in Airstream’s operating manuals and shared on Airstream’s website advises owners that they cannot tow an Airstream with people inside,” the statement continued.
“Many states prohibit carrying passengers in a travel trailer or fifth wheel, and we advise owners to consult their state’s Department of Motor Vehicles for up-to-date regulations.”
It also is illegal in New York to tow passengers in a “house coach trailer” while it is hitched to a vehicle and on the road.
The mother of three was traveling to Cape Vincent with her family to watch the eclipse when the freak accident occurred, a neighbor told The Post on Monday.
Horrified witnesses later said they saw the side door of the RV open and Woroniecka’s arm hanging out as she tried to pull it closed.
“My husband saw them right before they left. He happened to talk to them, and [Woroniecka’s husband] Robert [said] they were going up with their daughter to see the total eclipse,” the neighbor, who identified herself only by her first name, Maria, explained through tears.
Just a few moments before the accident, Woroniecka and her daughter Helena were riding with Robert in the family’s 2019 Ford pickup truck, which Robert was driving with the Airstream attached in tow.
They had stopped for ice cream and were just about 20 minutes from their AirBnB when Woroniecka and Helena decided to ride the rest of the journey in the 2024 model RV.
“According to Helena’s accounts, she was lying on the bed located in the rear of the camper,” state police Sgt. Jack Keller said. “Helena recalls that her mother was trying to secure the passenger side door of the camper and subsequently gets thrown from the Airstream.”
Woroniecka struck her head on the road median, police explained.
She was pronounced dead at Samaritan Medical Center.
Woroniecka was born in Poland, and worked as a pediatric allergist and immunologist at Stony Brook Medicine, her online profile said.
“They moved here about four, five years ago,” neighbor Maria told The Post of the family. “They just brought the Airstream two months ago. [Woroniecka] was so sweet. Really nice person — really nice.”
Woroniecka and her husband have three adult daughters, Maria said.
One of them lives in Virginia, while another is studying to be a doctor in Arizona and was set to get married this summer.
The third daughter is enrolled at Juilliard, the neighbor told The Post.
