Charges pending after Wichitan run over on beach

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. —Authorities said a Wichita woman who was run over by a Beach Patrol pickup truck in central Florida remained hospitalized Monday.

Erin Michelle Joynt, 33, of Wichita was sunbathing on the beach when the incident happened just after 10 a.m. Sunday, said Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Montes.

Joynt, a teacher and the mother of three children, was being treated at a Daytona Beach hospital.

Volusia County spokesman Dave Byron said the driver, 21-year-old Thomas Moderie, is a part-time seasonal lifeguard making $10.85 an hour who has been with the county for five years.

Moderie had been flagged down by someone reporting broken glass on the shore and was driving to deal with that when he struck Joynt. Byron said Moderie "just didn't see the woman."

Per standard procedure, Moderie will undergo drug testing.

Joynt's husband, Christopher, and two children were with her when the accident occurred, according to published reports. No other injuries were reported.

It was the third time in a little over a year that a Beach Patrol vehicle had hit someone on the beach, the Daytona News-Journal reported. County officials plan to look into the issue of vehicles on the beach at a meeting later this week.

Charges were pending against Moderie, according to the News-Journal.

Byron told the Orlando Sentinel that Moderie had not taken a 16-hour beach driving safety courts required of patrol officers. Moderie had been given a driving-safety manual but didn't take the course, which reviews hazards specific to beach driving, such as watching for sunbathers in blind spots, the Sentinel reported.

Joynt is a former teacher in the Wichita public schools, a district spokeswoman said. She is a 1996 graduate of North High School and attended Wichita State University.

This story was originally published August 2, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Charges pending after Wichitan run over on beach."