Atlantic Beach employee fined $500 for running over teen girls on beach

13-year-old girls hit by city employee's truck are suing Atlantic Beach

ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. – An Atlantic Beach city employee was found guilty Thursday of failing to use due care in an incident in which he ran over two teenage girls on the beach.

Timothy Thompson, 60, was fined $500, had his license suspended for three months and was ordered to enroll in driving school. 

Thompson said he made a U-turn on the beach near Seminole Road on May 7 and didn't realize he'd run over the teens until he heard screaming. 

Residents ran over and pulled the two girls out from under his pickup. 

Isabella Rodriguez, 13, suffered multiple fractures, torn ligaments and soft tissue damage to her foot.

Jade Shaw, 13, suffered third-degree burns from the heat of the truck, underwent two surgeries and spent nine days in the burn unit at UF Health Shands in Gainesville.

"The surgeries to do the skin grafting for the burns, they didn't take the first time. She had to go back in and do it again. It's very traumatic and (a) stressful thing for a young teenager," said Jade's attorney, Steve Pajcic.

Earlier this month, attorneys for Isabella and Jade said they have served notices of intent to sue Atlantic Beach on behalf of their clients. The notices are required to be filed months before lawsuits can actually be submitted, according to Florida statutes.

The teens were lying on bright colored towels and Thompson made a right-handed U-turn, never walking around his truck before attempting to drive off, according to the law firm representing Jade.

Pajcic said he doesn't believe the city and people involved are "bad guys" but he does want them to take responsibility for what happened and make things right.

"To get up and say that 'I can't think of anything I would have done differently.' No, that's not an acceptable answer. He (Thompson) was put in a bad situation by his supervisors and the policies on the beach. But still, it's an obvious violation and he should have accepted, he should have not even challenged it. But the court did the right thing," Pajcic said. 

Pajcic said their main goal is to get procedures changed so this doesn't happen again.

"We'd like to see Atlantic Beach and other municipalities change their procedures so that no vehicles are ever on the beach. Except for the kind of Polaris four-wheelers the lifeguards use to transport their equipment. And actually, I think the beach people know this. This was just something that slipped through the crack that shouldn't be allowed to happen," Pajcic said. 

Pajcic said they plan on trying to get the city to pay for Jade's medical bills, which are well over $100,000, and he doesn't know if she'll need any other surgeries.

News4Jax reached out Thursday to Isabella's attorney and the city of Atlantic Beach for comment, but has not heard back.