Jacqueline Bigno nearly died while sunbathing at the beach Sunday when an off-road truck driven by a family friend ran over her on Kauai.

“;If it was stock tires, I would have been dead,”; she said by phone yesterday from the Queen's Medical Center. “;I think because of the type of the tires and the sand was so soft - that's the reason that I lived.”;

The Nissan Frontier that drove over Bigno had 39-inch-wide tires.

The driver of the truck - the best friend of Bigno's daughter's boyfriend - was arrested on two warrants. He was later released pending investigation. Police opened a first-degree negligent-injury case, but Bigno does not want to pursue charges.

Bigno, 38, was near a surf spot called Kitchens in Wailua with a group enjoying the sun after the recent rainy weather.

Most of the group had been under a tree, but Bigno, wanting some sun, lay on a sarong in the sand and fell asleep on her stomach with her hands above her head.

The driver of the truck was looking for a place to park on the sand when he ran over Bigno.

She said, “;He ran over my head with his front passenger tire and his back passenger tire.”;

She woke up in the lap of her daughter's boyfriend, wondering what happened.

“;I was fading in and out already at that point. I was telling them that I wanted to go to sleep, and they didn't want me to,”; she said.

She did not blame the driver, a friend of the family for several years, and would not press charges, calling it a “;freak accident.”;

“;He came up in an angle where he didn't see,”; she said. “;He was crying. He was really traumatized.”;

Initially taken to Wilcox Hospital in serious condition, Bigno was flown to Queen's for more care. Doctors told her she broke her scapula, or wing bone, in four places, sustained a contusion on the right side of her head and received injuries from the tires on her right hand, left arm and left shoulder. Bigno said her left arm feels like it is going to fall out of its socket.

Doctors put her left arm in a sling and told her it could take 10 weeks for her to recover. Bigno checked out yesterday and returned to her home in Puhi.

Driving on the beach is illegal in Hawaii, but Bigno hesitated to condemn it.

“;That beach is very well known for four-wheel driving. I have mixed feelings because it's been like that. Now I'm kind of scared,”; she said. She suggested people put out coolers or umbrellas when lying on the beach.

Kauai County spokeswoman Mary Daubert said for police to enforce the rule, offenders must be caught. She said it would help if witnesses get the license number or take a photo and call police. Violators can be fined $500.