Woman Run Over By Fort Lauderdale Lifeguard Takes City To Court
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - After numerous delays, a civil trial is underway in Ft. Lauderdale pitting a beach visitor against the city.
Jury selection got underway Monday for a trial in which a North Carolina school teacher, who was run over by a Ft. Lauderdale Ocean Rescue lifeguard, is seeking damages from the city.
During a trip to the beach in April 2012, Rinda Mizelle, 49, was lying in the sand next to a lifeguard tower when a member of the beach patrol on an SUV ran over her.
Police said that Tracy Moll, the driver of the ocean rescue vehicle had just finished speaking to a lifeguard at the rescue stand when she got on her vehicle, made a right turn, and drove directly over Mizelle.
She was pulled from underneath the passenger side of the vehicle and taken to Broward Health Medical Center for non-life threatening injuries. Police reported that she suffered lacerations on her arms and legs, but was treated and released a short time after. An attorney for Mizelle said she suffered orthopedic and neurological injuries, as well as significant burns on her arms.
Mizelle filed suit against the city of Fort Lauderdale in 2013. Since then her trial date was pushed back a number of times, including last year as the result of Hurricane Irma.
#UPDATE: The driver of the Ocean Rescue SUV was originally identified as Sherry Samuel in this story. The story now has the correct name of the driver.