A sunbather in Wildwood, New Jersey, was struck by a police pickup truck while she was lying on the beach. The on-duty officer from the Wildwood Police Department was responding to a call near Rio Grande Avenue around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday when the incident occurred. The woman, who has not been identified, was lying on a towel when the officer drove over her torso, according to Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy.
Bystanders quickly rushed to the woman’s aid, with some digging in the sand while others worked to lift the front end of the Ford F-150 off her. “They were the ones who sprung to action,” said witness Rose Simone. “A bunch of guys came around that were in the area, and they said, ‘We have to lift the truck, the front of the truck, to get her out.’”
Simone added that the woman had been wearing dark clothes and was sitting on the towel with a man before the incident. The man was swimming when the truck ran over the woman. “People were just screaming, ‘You hit somebody! Somebody’s under your truck! Stop!’” Simone said. “Everybody [was] just gathering around the area, and then the cop jumps out of his truck.”
Another witness, Ryan Cortes, told the Wildwood Video Archive, “The Wildwood police officer ran this lady over on the beach while he was swerving in and out of the beach, way too close.” Cortes added that nearby citizens had to yell at the truck to stop and then gather to lift the vehicle off the woman’s torso. “No one understands why the cop was driving in a crowded beach so close to where everyone was!” he said.
The woman is expected to survive but has sustained serious injuries, including several broken ribs, three broken vertebrae, and a lung injury, according to ABC 6. First responders placed the woman on a backboard and transported her to a waiting ambulance.
The Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office was initially reported to be handling the investigation, but the office denied this and directed questions back to the local police department. The officer involved in the incident is usually assigned to the beach, according to Chief Murphy. The department’s internal affairs bureau will be investigating the incident.
The police department has not released the identities of the victim or the officer involved. On Sunday, the department referred questions to the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office, stating it was handling the investigation. However, a representative for the prosecutor’s office stated that the agency was not investigating the accident and referred questions back to Wildwood police.