A day that should have been filled with birthday celebrations on the sand turned into a nightmare for a Philadelphia woman, and now she's seeking justice through the courts. Annette Eld has filed a personal injury lawsuit against the City of Wildwood and the Wildwood Police Department after a police pickup truck ran over her while she lay on the beach in 2024.
The incident occurred on August 28, 2024, around 1:30 p.m., as Eld was celebrating her birthday at the Wildwood beach. According to the lawsuit filed on April 10, 2026 in Cape May County Superior Court, a marked Ford F-150 police truck driven by Officer Saul Meghnagi drove over Eld as she was lying on the sand.
What makes this incident particularly disturbing is what happened next. Beachgoers shouted to alert the driver, but the truck stopped while still on top of Eld, pinning her to the sand. Body camera footage and witness accounts reveal that no emergency lights or sirens were activated prior to the incident, raising serious questions about the circumstances that led to this tragedy.
The physical and emotional toll on Eld has been devastating. She suffered serious injuries to her back, neck, ribs, lungs, and shoulders. Beyond the immediate trauma, she continues to experience nerve damage, chronic pain, and psychological trauma that affects her daily life. The impact extends beyond Eld herself—her child, who witnessed the incident, continues to experience stress and anxiety from what they saw that day.
Body camera footage captured Officer Meghnagi's words in the aftermath: "Guys, I think we should just wait for rescue to get here." Those words, spoken as Eld lay trapped beneath the vehicle, underscore the severity of what had just occurred on our community's public beach.
This case raises critical questions about police procedures and accountability when operating vehicles in spaces where families gather to relax and enjoy the shore. Our beaches are meant to be safe havens for recreation, not places where visitors need to worry about being run over by law enforcement vehicles.
The lawsuit seeks to address Eld's ongoing medical expenses and the trauma that continues to affect both her and her child. A judge will now decide whether to allow the case to proceed against the Wildwood Police Department and City of Wildwood.
As this case moves forward, it serves as a stark reminder of the need for clear safety protocols when police vehicles operate in crowded public spaces. For Eld and her family, no legal outcome can erase what happened that August afternoon, but the lawsuit represents a step toward accountability and, hopefully, preventing similar incidents from happening to other beachgoers in the future.
