Family claims 67-year-old woman dies following fall on icy walkway outside Frankford apartment

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Florence Miller was a mother, grandmother and caregiver for her elderly mother at the White Hall apartments in the Frankford section of Philadelphia.

Her family says the 67-year-old woman slipped on ice outside the apartment complex last Tuesday and died a day later.

"It's messed up. Me and my sister were walking, and then 5 minutes later, I'm in front of the hospital with her," said Karen Miller, Florence's sister.

On Tuesday, Karen Miller carefully navigated the snow- and ice-covered area outside her mother's apartment, the same place she says Florence fell only a few yards away from her.

"She went here trying to make a path, and then I get about right here, and I turn around and she laying in the snow," Miller said.

Florence Miller was able to get off the ground but struggled to catch her breath. Karen Miller, a nurse, rushed her sister to the hospital and said that on the way, Florence went into cardiac arrest.

"I know I have post-traumatic stress about it cause every day now I'm crying multiple times," she said.

The sidewalks on the exterior of the apartment complex appeared to have been shoveled. However, Miller's mother lives in an interior unit facing a courtyard area.

The day after the fall, the family recorded video showing the condition of the walkway two days after the snowstorm.

On Tuesday, the path from her front door to the parking lot remained mostly covered in ice. The property is managed by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

"This is insane. All of the elderly people that live around here," Miller said. "It should have been a clear path all the way til they could get to their cars."

Miller said she is now concerned about how she will safely get her 87-year-old mother out of the apartment and to her daughter's funeral.

"Y'all gotta get this together. We lost our loved one out here to the snow and still I haven't heard anything yet," she said.

In a statement, PHA wrote, "We are deeply saddened to learn of our resident's loss of a loved one. We are currently looking into the matter with the information that was provided to us."

The family is still waiting on an official cause of death from the medical examiner's office.