Prior Lake family sues over California beach death

Last update: December 12, 2006 - 7:33 PM

The Prior Lake family of a sunbather run over and killed last summer by a police beach patrol vehicle in California has filed a $10 million lawsuit against the city of Oxnard, Calif.

The suit, filed Monday in Ventura County Superior Court, alleges seven counts of negligence, including claims that Oxnard didn't have a beach-driving policy and didn't train its officers how to drive on beaches.

Cindy Conolly, 49, of Sioux City, Iowa, was killed June 12 on the public Mandalay Beach. She had attended her son's oceanside wedding the previous day at a resort hotel.

The suit was filed on behalf of her children, Ronnie Bassett and Tammy Krieger, both of Prior Lake.

It said that the officers didn't sound the horn or any warning that the SUV was on the sand and that they were "completely oblivious to their surroundings and the fact that they had run over Cindy Conolly."

The officers resumed regular street patrol until a witness called 911 and they were called back to the scene about 20 minutes later, authorities said.

In October, the city of Oxnard and the Oxnard Police Department admitted liability and accepted responsibility.

ASSOCIATED PRESS