Surfside officials review beach patrol protocol after fatal incident in Horry County

SURFSIDE BEACH, SC (WBTW) — News13 continues its four-part series on the beach vehicles used by various law enforcement agencies in the Grand Strand. These reports come after the death of a Myrtle Beach woman last month.

Sandra “Sandy” Schultz-Peters, 66, was struck and killed by a Horry County Police Department 2020 Ford Ranger pickup truck on June 13 as she sat in her beach chair.

According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the fatal incident occurred last month near the beach access on Nash Street as a South Carolina Highway Patrol vehicle was traveling toward Springmaid Pier.

Surfside Beach officials plan to review their beach patrol protocol over the next few weeks to see if there are any areas that need improvement.

On Friday, News 13 spoke to a family at Surfside Beach who said that while beach safety rules are important, they are also something you need to remind yourself or your child of every day.

To the left of the Surfside Beach Pier there is a sandy road specifically accessible to emergency vehicles.

Along the access, pylons, metal signs and paint are installed on both sides of the pier’s pillars to remind beachgoers to “keep space.”

News 13 also spoke with Surfside Beach Mayor Robert Krouse. “Surfside Beach rarely uses a pickup truck on the beach. We use the side-by-side ATVs for our routine patrols. Pickups are only used when they are needed for a specific job.”

Krouse says her marine rescue team monitors the beach throughout the day, traveling from the Holiday Inn on 16th Avenue North to Melody Lane.

“There are almost always two people on the off-road vehicles and that tends to be more effective. You have much better visibility with these vehicles, they are much smaller and are great for beach patrol, they are maneuverable, they can get through the sand and they just work well.”

Mayor Krouse says the team is not only responsible for enforcing the rules and finding people in trouble, but also acts as ambassadors for the city.

Two employees of Angela’s Frozen Lemonade who work at Surfside Beach talk about the recent safety changes they have noticed.

Employee Nicole Rooney says: “I think what I’ve noticed is that they’re definitely on heightened alert and trying to do things to prevent a situation like the one that happened in the future.”

Rooney says her boss has to drive a beach service truck to the beach when they need supplies for their lemonade cart.

She says they have a meeting point for safety reasons, so the truck does not drive along the beach.

“I think everyone’s biggest concern is keeping the beach super safe, and I think they’ve done a really good job here. I personally haven’t seen anything that’s gone wrong so far, so I hope it just stays that way.”

Mayor Krouse said that on the Fourth of July, some fireworks set the brush in the dunes on fire. He added that both firefighters and police were on duty all evening.

Earlier this week, News 13 looked at the changes in Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach since the death of Sandy Schultz-Peter.

We now know that Myrtle Beach authorities are looking for ways to provide the safety equipment needed on the beach.

These options include installing exterior cameras on vehicles and attaching object detection sensors to the front of the vehicle.