Atleast help got there quickly

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/li_beach_horror_TnIdrkbW1hrDljLkoGtDLK

Rescue cop runs over sunbather on Long Island beach

A sunbather catching rays on a Long Island beach was mowed down yesterday by a cop racing to an emergency, in a horrific accident that left tire marks along the victim's back, officials said.

Only the soft sand and good fortune kept the unsuspecting sunbather from being crushed to death, according to witnesses.

Beachgoers watched in horror as Officer Paul DeMarco, a 10-year veteran, stepped on the gas in his Long Beach Police Department SUV -- with Marshall Starkman, 43, under his wheels.

According to officials, DeMarco was responding to a call for a water rescue shortly after noon and made a sharp right turn, rolling over Starkman, who was lying face down in a lounge chair.

Witnesses said DeMarco did not know he struck the man until bystanders screamed for him to stop.

"When he first hit him, he stopped," said Scott Cali, 47. "Then he accelerated and went over him while people were yelling. I guess he didn't see him and went right over him. It was just a horrible accident."

The victim's chair was low on the sand and might have been obstructed from the officer's view.

"He didn't see [the victim]," Long Beach City Manager Charles Theofan said of DeMarco.

Starkman was rushed by helicopter to Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow and was in the intensive-care unit last night, but was expected to survive, officials said.

"He's in a tremendous amount of pain. I've never seen him in such pain," said his shaken wife, Allison, adding that he suffered a fractured spine and broken rib.

"I just can't believe what happened. "He was sitting on the beach minding his own business," she said.

"It's very unfortunate, but thank God he's alive."

Starkman's mother, Joan, said she nearly passed out when she saw the tire marks on her son's back.

DeMarco was responding to a call of a surfer in distress. The surfer eventually got out of the water without being hurt.

Starkman, a manager at a cellphone store in the Green Acres Malls in Valley Stream, LI, had been lounging near a cooler listening to music when the SUV crushed him, witnesses said.

The weight of the vehicle smashed him so far down into the sand that the lounge chair nearly disappeared.

Despite being in obvious pain, the victim managed to grab his cellphone.

"He wanted someone to contact his mom," Cali said. "He said, 'Can somebody please call my mom.' "

Nassau County police responded to the accident and launched an investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest, Theofan said.

But DeMarco is not expected to face any charges.

dumbass cop. too much testosterone in law enforcement sometimes flame suit on.

That's why I don't spend much time at the beach.

Reminds me of:

Also found this...

We had that happen around here just a few years ago. Police claimed the guy was committing suicide by jumping in front of the cruiser that was responding to a call.

Then it was revealed that the cop was actually on the shoulder of the road. Then it was revealed that the cop actually went through a mailbox. Then it was revealed that the cop went through several yards, before hitting the guy. Then it was revealed that the cop wasn't running his lights. Then it was revealed that the cop wasn't responding to a call.

No charges for our cop either.

If a civilian did this they would be damn near lynched. The most a cop will get is a month or two of paid leave.

This is absolutely horrible.

A Highway Patrol man killed a women Sunday near my house. He clocked a car and turned around in the hwy median and began pursuit of the speeder. He was going so fast in a 55mph zone that a poor women with three grandchildren on board didn't see him crest a hill before she turned left in front of him. Witnesses say he had no lights on and "must have been going well over 100mph"

They are doing an investigation but doubt he'll be charged with anything.

It's ridiculous that they get away with this type of behavior

something similar happened after a cop chased an organ donor on the capital beltway a few years back. despite dept. guidelines against such chases.

they don't always get away with it... my cousin lived in Sacramento and was "T" boned by a speeding officer (actually on a donut run) she was in a coma for the next 10 - 15 yrs then in a near vegetative for another 15+ yrs then died

the officer was charged and convicted (of what I can't remember right now) the city paid several million in medical bills and enough so her kids never had to think about paying for school (just the loss of their Mom) ... the a$$hat husband had filed for divorce just a few weeks prior to the wreck... he got nothing

'course nothing they did to the officer, nor any amt of money could undo the damage to Peggy or for that matter her kids

This is the second freak beach accident on the East Coast in the last couple of months. Remember that guy that got run over by a stricken Lancair in the Carolinas?

I'll keep my tarballs, thanks.

As far as a civil case against the police, one may be brought but it won't go anywhere. In NY police responding to a call are only lible for hurting someone if they are "reckless" - a legal standard that means conscious disregard of danger. In the real world it means proving the officer saw the guy on the beach chair and said berkeley it, he's in my way, sure hope he sees me and moves but I'm coming through like a bat outta hell regardless.

So even with car safety standards outpacing technological progress, it's perfectly legal to sell a vehicle where the visibility is so bad that you can't see that you're running over a dude in a lounge chair. Real smart.