Surfside Beach reviewing beach patrol protocol after woman’s death

SURFSIDE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — News13 is continuing its four-part series looking into the beach vehicles used by different Grand Strand law enforcement agencies after a woman’s death last month.

Sandra “Sandy” Schultz-Peters, 66, was hit and killed on June 13 by an Horry County police pickup truck while sitting in her beach chair.

According to the South Carolina Highway Patrol, the fatal incident happened near the Nash Street beach access when the police vehicle was driving toward Springmaid Pier.

Over the next couple of weeks, Surfside Beach officials said they’ll be looking at their protocol for patrolling the beach to see if there are areas to improve.

One Surfside Beach family said beach safety rules are important, but so is reminding yourself or your child of them every day.

There’s a sand road to the left of the Surfside Beach pier specifically for emergency vehicles to gain access. Along the access, there are cones, metals signs, and paint on each side of the pier’s pillars to alert beachgoers to “keep clear.”

“Surfside Beach rarely uses a pickup truck on the beach,” Mayor Robert Krouse said. “We use the side-by-side ATVs for our routine patrols. Pickup trucks are used only when they’re needed for a specific job.”

Krouse said their ocean rescue team monitors the beach throughout the day, riding from the Holiday Inn on 16th Avenue North to Melody Lane.

“You’ve got two people on the ATVs at pretty much all times and that tends to be more effective,” he said. “You have a lot more view around those vehicles, they’re much smaller and they’re great for patrolling the beach. They can maneuver, get through the sand, and they just work well.”

Krouse said the team is not just in charge of enforcing rules and looking for people in trouble, but are town ambassadors.

Two Angela’s Frozen Lemonade employees who work on Surfside Beach talked about recent safety changes they’ve noticed.

“I think I’ve noticed, they’re definitely on higher alert, like, trying to do things to prevent a situation like the one that happened, in the future,” Nicole Rooney said.

Rooney said their boss has to drive a beach service truck onto the beach when they need refills for their lemonade cart. She said because of safety reasons, they have a meeting place, so the truck isn’t driving along the beach.

“I think everyone’s No.1 concern is keeping the beach super safe, so I think they’ve done a really good job here doing that,” Rooney said. “I haven’t seen anything, personally, going wrong so far, so I hope it just stays consistent.”

Krouse said, regarding the Fourth of July, some fireworks caught brush on the dunes on fire. He said both fire and police were working all evening.

Friday marked the final part in News13’s Beach Patrol Tracker series, looking at what changes might have been made with the beach safety protocol in Horry County.

Myrtle Beach officials are looking at options for safety equipment needed on the beach. These options include installing exterior cameras on vehicles and object detection sensors added to the front of the vehicles.

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Jackie LiBrizzi is a multimedia journalist at News13. Jackie is originally from Hamilton, New Jersey, and was raised in Piedmont, South Carolina. Jackie joined the News13 team in June 2023 after she graduated as a student-athlete from the University of South Carolina in May 2023. Follow Jackie on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook , or Instagram , and read more of her work he r e .

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