Officer runs over woman sunbathing on Jersey Shore beach

Updated: Sep. 01, 2024, 5:12

Rose Simone was sunbathing on the Wildwood beach on a beautiful Wednesday afternoon when the screaming started.

“People were just screaming, ‘You hit somebody! Somebody’s under your truck! Stop!”Simone recounted in a phone interview Saturday. “Everybody is just gathering around the area and then the cop jumps out of his truck.”

A Wildwood police officer ran over a woman lying on a towel on the beach and she was pinned under the low-profile vehicle in the sand, Simone said.

Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy confirmed to the Press of Atlantic City that an officer ran over a woman while he was on duty and responding to an unspecified ordinance violation. It happened near Rio Grande Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The woman is expected to survive but has serious injuries, including broken ribs and vertebrae, and a lung injury, 6abc reported.

Many bystanders gathered around the truck, some digging in the sand and others working to lift the front end of the full-sized pickup truck off of her, Simone said.

“They were the ones who sprung to action,” she said.

First responders placed her on a backboard and into the back of a rescue vehicle that transported her across the beach to a waiting ambulance, Simone said. Investigators remained on scene for roughly an hour, she estimated, taking photos.

On Friday, Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy told the Press of Atlantic City the officer is normally assigned to the beach and the vehicle was the department’s Ford F-150. The chief did not identify the officer or the victim, but told the Press the incident would be investigated by Wildwood Police internal affairs and the accident reconstruction officer.

A Wildwood spokeswoman said Saturday no one would be commenting on behalf of the city because of the ongoing investigation.

Simone said she had noticed the woman earlier, sitting in dark clothes on the towel with a man, who was swimming at the time of the accident.

She was amazed that the truck had struck someone so close to her, because she hadn’t heard it approaching at all, though it was about 30 feet away.

“She was behind me, and I didn’t hear a sound until I heard people screaming,” she said.

https://www.nj.com/news/2024/08/officer-runs-over-woman-sunbathing-on-jersey-shore-beach.html