Niamh Shackleton
What should have been a relaxing day at the beach ended in tragedy after a woman was left seriously injured from being ran over by a police truck.
The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon (August 28) at a beach in Wildwood, New Jersey, when an officer driving a Ford F-150 pickup truck drove onto the beach to respond to an unspecified ordinance violation.
The victim, whose name has not be revealed, was sunbathing on the beach at the time and was ultimately ran over by the truck in what's being labeled as a freak accident.
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Wildwood Police Chief Joseph Murphy has spoken out after the ordeal and confirmed that woman sustained serious injuries to the Press of Atlantic City.
It's believed that the incident left her with broken ribs, three fractured vertebrae and a lung injury.
As of Friday (August 30), Murphy said that despite the severity of her injuries the victim is expected to make a full recovery.
Elsewhere he stated that the incident is being investigated by Wildwood Police internal affairs and the accident reconstruction officer.
Fellow beachgoers saw the horror unfold as they screamed to the officer driving the vehicle that they'd hit someone.
Rose Simone, who was at the beach at the time, recalled to NJ.com: "People were just screaming, ‘You hit somebody! Somebody’s under your truck! Stop!'
"Everybody is just gathering around the area and then the cop jumps out of his truck."
People visiting the beach rushed to the woman's aid and started digging away at the sand she was lying on in a bid to free her from under the vehicle.
Another onlooker, Ryan Cortes, said that the officer driving the truck was was 'way too close' to people on the beach.
"The Wildwood police officer ran this lady over on the beach while he was swerving in and out of the beach, way too close," he told the Wildwood Video Archive.
Cortes went on: "Citizens nearby had to scream at the truck to stop, and they had to gather to lift the vehicle off of the woman’s torso — it was truly horrible.
"No one understands why the cop was driving in a crowded beach so close to where everyone was!"
UNILAD have approached Wildwood Police Department for comment on the matter.