Patrol vehicle runs over 2 women on Florida beach; sergeant cited for careless driving

A sergeant could face disciplinary action after striking two young women with a patrol car in Daytona Beach on Memorial Day, authorities said. The sergeant, whose name was not released, has already received a citation for careless driving following the incident.

Both 18, the women were sunbathing on the sand near Daytona’s strip of coastal hotels on Monday afternoon when the patrol car ran over them, said Tamra Malphurs, acting director of Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue, in a statement. The sergeant is an employee of this security agency. Malphurs characterized the collision as an accident. It happened around 2:30 pm local time.

The women, who had traveled from Kissimmee to Daytona Beach, were transported to a hospital after being struck by the sergeant’s vehicle. Details about the nature of their injuries were not immediately available, although Malphurs said each of their conditions was stable Wednesday morning.

In addition to the reckless driving citation, Malphurs said the sergeant could face further punishment once Volusia County Beach Safety Ocean Rescue “reviews all the facts.” The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident.

Beachgoers have been struck by government-operated or publicly owned vehicles — including some driven by lifeguards, police and other public safety officials — at major tourist beaches before, in Florida and elsewhere in the United States. The Florida-based personal injury law firm McQuaid and Douglas said has become a problematic pattern in several parts of the state that appears to be happening more frequently than ever, with at least 20 reports of beach patrol cars running over beachgoers in recent years, according to the company. Three beachgoers have been run over by police cruisers at Pinellas Beach near St. Petersburg along Florida’s Gulf Coast in just the last two years, lawyers said.

The issue initially raised concerns about whether vehicles should be allowed on Volusia County beaches in 2010 after two 4-year-old children were struck and killed. Several similar incidents gained national attention over the next decade, many of which took place in California. In 2019, a 30-year-old woman suffered minor or moderate injuries after being hit by a Los Angeles Police Department patrol in Venice Beach, CBS Los Angeles reported. Police were patrolling a sandy stretch of beach in an SUV when they overturned the car and ran over the woman, who was sunbathing.

Another woman suffered more serious injuries when a lifeguard, driving a Los Angeles County-owned vehicle, ran her over on Venice Beach. At the time, CBS Los Angeles reported that the 25-year-old was hospitalized with fractures and internal injuries. Earlier that year, a sanitation truck ran over a woman who was lying face down in the sand on the same beach. This woman was 49 years old and was hospitalized with serious injuries.

Also in 2013, San Francisco city officials proposed a $15 million settlement to the family of Christine Svanemyr, a woman killed by a maintenance vehicle that struck her as she lay with her 11-month-old son in a neighborhood park. Bernal. Bairro Alto. The man who hit her, a San Francisco Parks employee, has been charged with manslaughter in the hit-and-run, CBS San Francisco reported. Svanemyr’s husband wrote in an average post several years later, the employee ended up receiving community service as a penalty and spent four days in jail.