Kids get $2.75 million in mom's beach death

More than a year after their mother was run over by a California beach patrol while sunbathing, a Prior Lake man and his sister will share a $2.75 million wrongful-death settlement.

Cindy Conolly, 49, of Sioux City, Iowa, was hit by a police sports-utility vehicle on June 12, 2006, while soaking up the sun on Mandalay Beach in Oxnard, Calif. She had attended her son Ronnie Bassett's oceanside wedding the previous day at a beachside resort.

The city police officers were unaware that they had run over the woman and they resumed regular street patrol until a witness called 911 and they returned to the scene 20 minutes later.

Tuesday's settlement ended a $10 million lawsuit that Bassett and his sister, Tammy Krieger, also of Prior Lake, had filed against the city of Oxnard, saying they hoped it would lead to better safety measures on city beaches. "I don't want what happened to us to happen to anyone else," Bassett said.

Our mom's death was easily preventable," Bassett and Krieger said in a statement released Wednesday. "My hope now is that her tragic death will forever be a reminder to the City of Oxnard that anything is possible when one has no rules, policies or regulations. The changes and the lives those changes save will, hopefully, live on as a tribute to our mom, Cindy Conolly."

City officials had said last year that the city accepted full responsibility for the incident.

Mark Hiepler, an Oxnard attorney representing Conolly's family, said his clients are pleased that the case, which was scheduled to go to trial Wednesday, was over.

After suit, moving forward

Oxnard Police Chief John Crombach expressed remorse for the death .

I'm glad it's over for the family," he told the Ventura County Star Tuesday. "I'm glad it's over for us. It doesn't bring Cindy Conolly back. No amount of money does that. Hopefully, everybody will be able to move forward."

As part of the suit, officer Frank Brisslinger, who was driving the patrol vehicle, and officer Martin Polo were ordered to provide sworn depositions about the accident.

Brisslinger said he felt like "America's most wanted man."

It's kind of tough to get up in the morning and look at your name in the paper and ... you feel like, you know, you just did the Rodney King beating or something, when in all actuality it was an accident," he said. "No one knows how that hurts. ... I can't feel sorry for myself because, believe me, I know Mr. Bassett has got to be hurting more than I am. ...There hasn't been a day gone by that I haven't thought about this lady Mrs. Conolly."

Polo testified that he got the cold shoulder in the department after the accident. He also was frustrated because the city did not provide beach-patrol training or smaller all-terrain vehicles to drive on the sand.

And you know, I wish there was some way somehow that something could have been different, a circumstance," Polo said. "I mean it could have been my mom, my sister, my aunt. You know, I just feel sorry for that family."

Some changes already made

Some of the safety changes sought by the family have already been made, Oxnard City Attorney Gary Gillig said.

For example, he said, the city has stopped using its 6,500- pound Chevrolet Tahoe SUV for beach patrols. Instead, the city has ordered several all-terrain vehicles that weigh much less and are easier to see around, he said.

Gillig also noted that all city employees who must drive on beaches are undergoing beach-driving training. "The city is extremely sorry for this tragic event," he said.

We believe they have made some changes, but not enough," said Terry Tron, an attorney working on behalf of the family. "I want to see documentation on the beach training and I want to see documentation that they have moved away from using SUVs to patrol."

Tragedy marred celebration

Bassett said his mother's death took a particular toll because it came on the heels of the wedding.

It had been a perfect weekend, he remembered last year. When his mother pulled him aside just moments before the ceremony on the beach to say how proud she was, he told her, "You need to leave me alone, Mom, you're making me cry."

I get mad," he said. "I want to talk to her. I want to hug her."

Mary Lynn Smith • 612-673-4788

Mary Lynn Smith • mlsmith@startribune.com