OPINION AND COMMENTARY

Editorials and other Opinion content offer perspectives on issues important to our community and are independent from the work of our newsroom reporters.

A beachgoer is dead after a Horry County police officer’s patrol vehicle struck her Thursday near this location off Nash Street between Springmaid Pier and Myrtle Beach State Park.
A beachgoer is dead after a Horry County police officer’s patrol vehicle struck her Thursday near this location off Nash Street between Springmaid Pier and Myrtle Beach State Park.jlee@thesunnews

Officers sworn to protect and serve the public know they have one of the hardest jobs in the country, in large part because they are a split-second mistake away from the unimaginable: someone’s death. When that happens, honesty and transparency are the only path forward for any law enforcement agency, especially in this era of simmering distrust between police and some members of the public.

That’s what makes a tragic fatality outside Myrtle Beach on Thursday beyond troubling.

A Horry County police officer drove his patrol vehicle over a beachgoer by the Nash Street beach access near Springmaid Pier just after 1 p.m. On Friday Horry County Police released a statement saying the officer had been placed on administrative leave but shared little else. The woman, who died at Grand Strand Medical Center, was later identified as Sandra “Sandy” Schultz-Peters, 66, of Myrtle Beach. The Horry County Coroner’s Office said she died of injuries sustained upon being struck by a vehicle while on the beach.

A Facebook user shared two photos of the aftermath of the collision and wrote, “A beach cop just ran over a woman in her beach chair right behind me. Omg the scream.” Another person who was on the beach at the time of the accident told the Sun News’ Terri Richardson by email that a group of people rushed to help the woman and were able to lift the truck off of her.