A Kansas woman's children watched in horror as their mother who was sunbathing on a beach in Florida was run over by a Beach Patrol vehicle early Sunday morning, a relative told FoxNews.com.
Erin Michelle Joynt, 35, a teacher from Witchita, Kan., was laying on her stomach sunbathing when a truck made a sudden U-turn and drove over her midsection.
"She was bleeding from the ears," Wanda Garcia, Joynt's mother in law, said. "The kids were swimming at the time and watched the whole thing. It was terrible."
Joynt, who was vacationing at Daytona Beach for a week with her husband and two young children, was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
"Doctors were not very hopeful at first," Garcia said. "But now, thank God, it looks like she's going to recover."
Joynt is unable to speak, but has been communicating with family via sign language.
Authorities identified Tommy Moderie, 21, as the truck's driver. The seasonal lifeguard worked for the county for five years and has a "spotless" record, a spokesman says.
The incident happened Sunday just after 10 a.m. near Daytona Beach Shores.
The spokesman said Moderie "just didn't see the woman." Per standard procedure, Moderie will undergo drug testing.
FoxNews.com's Edmund DeMarche and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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