Safety chief back on job after accident on beach

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (WSVN) -- A safety chief is back on the beach a day after police said he ran over a sunbather.

"I saw the pickup jumping," said Pierre Buresburt. "Then I saw the front of the truck jumping, and I said, 'Wow, he hit something,' you know? Then when I looked, I saw legs between the two wheels."

The driver of the pickup truck inadvertently drove over a 37-year-old man on Hollywood Beach Tuesday. "He has blood on the head," said Henry Tourangeau, "blood coming down the face, the arm, body. The pass over, what the guy said, he rolled about three or four times and after the fourth pass over with the wheel."

The driver of the pic up was the man who runs the entire Hollywood Beach patrol. The top beach safety boss who tells others how to keep the beach safe. Chief Vince Canosa is described as being a very decent man, but on Tuesday he ran over a beachgoer. "He's supposed to be taking care of the people," said Javier Bienaves, "but he's running over people, so it's ironic."

The chief was not available for comment on Wednesday. The victim is recovering at Hollywood Memorial Regional. "He didn't see him behind the dune," said Captain Lester Cochnoer. "When he rolled over him, it was on soft sand at slow speed, and the person had rolled with the vehicle, and he didn't notice a large bump or anything."

But Chief Canosa is not the first emergency responder to run over someone on a South Florida Beach. In February 2003 a French tourist was accidentally run over and killed by a Miami Beach police officer. In Daytona, three years later, a lifeguard drove over and almost killed a vacationing teacher on Daytona Beach. Two more people were injured by police clowning around on an ATV in Miami Beach in July 2011.

"I'm just enjoying myself out here," said a beachgoer. "I hope that I'm safe but you never know."

As for Hollywood Fire Rescue Chief Vince Canosa, he is back on the job as of Wednesday. He did not want to comment for this story.

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