Sunbather Injured : Beachgoer Run Over by Tractor, Sues

On a slightly overcast Wednesday afternoon, Catherine Metcalf put on her blue floral bikini, grabbed her purse and a white tiger-print towel and headed to the Esplanade near Avenue F in Redondo Beach. The 20-year-old Lawndale woman has always loved sunbathing in Manhattan Beach but decided she wanted a “change of scenery.”

Shortly after 1 o’clock, as she lay on her towel with her eyes closed, Metcalf heard a loud rumbling noise. When she opened her eyes, the front right tire of a four-ton, four-wheel-drive tractor rolled over her, followed seconds later by a rear tire.

The tractor, driven by Edward Roberson of Gardena, who works for the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors, cracked the woman’s pelvis in four places, fractured several ribs and caused her left lung to fill with blood.

“Before I could do anything, it was on top of me,” Metcalf said, recalling from her bed that day three weeks ago. “I was just lying there . . . . I don’t remember what else happened. I was in too much pain.”

10 Days in Hospital

Metcalf spent the next 10 days in a hospital and has been confined to a bed in her mother’s home in Hawthorne ever since, according to her attorney, Walter Wabby. She expects to be bedridden for three months and needs 24-hour care, Wabby added.

Last week, Wabby filed claims on Metcalf’s behalf against Los Angeles County and Redondo Beach, seeking $2 million in damages.

“I’m sorry, but there are certain responsibilities for every job,” Metcalf said. “He (the driver) has to know that no matter what time of day it is, there are people on the beach.”

Dean Smith, chief of administrative services for the county department, said an investigation by the department determined that Roberson had not seen the woman and that Roberson would not be punished or reprimanded.

Roberson, who was not cited by police, has been instructed by the county not to speak about the accident because of the pending legal action.

“It was a very unfortunate accident, but it was an accident,” Smith said. “She was in a two-piece bathing suit, and it being early in the season, she did not have much of a tan. It was hard to see her against the sand.”

While describing the accident as highly unusual, Smith said other beach-goers have been hit or run over by county tractors and lifeguard vehicles. None has been as serious, however, he added.

Run Over by Rake

In an accident four years ago, for example, a girl at Zuma Beach in Malibu was run over by a rake attached to a tractor that was sweeping the beach, Smith said, adding that the girl received only minor injuries.

“Usually the sand gives, the body gives and the tires give . . . “ Smith said. “Considering the number of people on the beach and the number of miles we drive, it doesn’t happen very often . . . . Our drivers are very good.”

Smith said that Roberson was helping two other county workers and a lifeguard move several lifeguard towers closer to the ocean when the accident occurred. Smith said Roberson had worked for the department for more than 10 years.

“Normally, he drives cleanup equipment, but this time he was driving a bigger piece of equipment that is more powerful,” he said. “That equipment is not made to be driven in an environment where people are lying down.”

Metcalf, who said her moods swing between anger, depression and occasional lightheartedness, is looking forward to the day when she can get out of bed and take care of herself. She said she spends a lot of time asking herself, “Why me?”

The accident occurred just as she was changing jobs, leaving a shoe store in Torrance to become a receptionist at a bakery company. It forced her to give up the new job, to cancel plans to join a health club and to give up tickets to a rock concert that she had been looking forward to.

Smith said the incident was a freak accident and that there is little that beach-goers can do to prevent it from happening again. Metcalf, however, advised sunbathers to use beach chairs that make them more visible.

“It will be kind of scary if I am able to go again,” she said. “A couple of my friends won’t go to the beach anymore.”