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Sunbather killed by police vehicle on Calif beach

Posted on: Tuesday, 13 June 2006, 15:31 CDT

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A woman sunbathing on a southern California beach was accidentally run over and killed by a police vehicle on routine beach patrol, police said on Tuesday.

Cindy Conolly, 49, who was visiting Oxnard, about 50 miles

north-west of Los Angeles, from Iowa for the wedding of her son, was sunbathing alone on Monday on the beach near her hotel just below a two-foot (70-cm) high ridge of sand.

Police said that two officers in a sports utility vehicle stopped on top of the ridge to observe a swimmer who seemed to be in distress. When they pulled forward they ran over Conolly without realizing it and drove off.

Another woman on the beach, who witnessed the accident, called emergency services.

Conolly died instantly from head injuries.

"She was below them and they just did not see her, nor did they feel any disruption as they continued on their patrol, " said Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach, calling the death a "tragic accident."

Crombach said the officers involved, who have been put on paid leave while the incident is investigated, were "absolutely devastated."

Police and lifeguards regularly cruise the wide sand beaches of southern California looking for swimmers in distress and for illegal campers or drug and alcohol use.

Source: REUTERS

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