Sunbather struck by rescue truck on beach

HOLLYWOOD BEACH, Fla. (WSVN) -- A sunbather has been hospitalized after he was struck by a beach fire rescue truck.

Chief of Hollywood Fire Rescue's Beach Safety Division, Vincent Canosa, was flagged down after rolling over sunbather, Timothy Clingman while on patrol in a pick up truck Tuesday afternoon. "I can see the truck jump in the front, I said, 'He hit something,'" said Pierre Boisvert. "The something was this guy."

Beachgoers on the 6000 Block of North Ocean in Hollywood Beach saw the whole scene unfold. "Lifeguards came down in their pickup trucks and the police came," said Kristen Litchfield. "It was a big mess."

Clingman, 36, was transported to Memorial Regional Hospital with cuts and burns from rolling under the vehicle's exhaust pipe. "There was blood coming from the eyes, the face, the arm, the body," said Henry Tourangeau. "They passed over him with a car."

Wednesday morning, Clingman was listed in good condition.

In February 2003, a Miami Beach police officer was chasing a suspect and ran over two sisters who were vacationing from France. One of them died.

In July 2006, a Daytona Beach patrol pickup truck ran over a tourist from Kansas.

The most recent case happened in 2011 when a Miami Beach police officer got on an ATV with a bride-to-be for a beach joy ride. The ATV flipped over and threw the woman off and injured two other beachgoers. The two officers were fired from the force.

Hollywood officers said Canosa did a visual check but never got out of the vehicle to see the drop off to the beach. "It appears that the person that had been operating the vehicle had stopped there and was looking down the beach in both directions, performing the duties of a supervisor," said Hollywood Police Department Sergeant Lester Cochenour. "And then slowly rolled over a dune and did not see the person in front of him. The person was directly in front of the dune and was actually laying parallel to the dune."

Investigators said they have concluded their investigation. The pickup truck is back in service.

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