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Sunbather Run Over By Police SUV Responding to Call

Just 3 hours before the drowning, further up, the beach, a cop in an SUV ran over a sunbather on a lounger as he responded to a distress call. [AP]

BROOKLYN – Tragedy marred one of the first beach days of the season as a Brooklyn teen was swept out to sea on Long Island – and a nearby sunbather was run over by a cop in an SUV, officials said.

Sunbather Marshall Starkman, 43, of Oceanside, L.I., miraculously survived being crushed into the sands of Long Beach by the police SUV yesterday.

But Manuel Tiburcio, 19, of Brooklyn, was done in by the Atlantic Ocean’s surging surf, officials said.

Tiburcio and three college friends from Queens were wading in waist-high water about 3 p.m. when they were pulled under by booming surf and churning currents, said Long Beach City Manager Charles Theofan.

Lifeguards rescued three of them, but the search for Tiburcio was eventually called off, Theofan said. “One of his friends told our police officer that the very last thing they heard the victim say was that he could not swim,” Theofan said, noting there were a number of rescues at the beach yesterday.

Earlier, Long Beach cop Paul DeMarco was responding to a distress call when he drove his Dodge Durango over Starkman, who was stretched out in a chaise longue.

DeMarco, who has roughly 15 years on the job, had been talking with his daughter, who was at the beach, prior to the distress call.

When he went to respond, DeMarco made a right turn in the SUV, and Starkman was lying in his blind spot, Theofan said.

Starkman, who a fire official said had tire marks on his back, was airlifted to a Nassau County hospital, Theofan said. He suffered serious but nonlife-threatening injuries.

“There’s nothing here that tells us it’s anything but an unfortunate accident,” Theofan said.

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