Posted on 03/19/2022 12:00:43 PM PDT by Morgana
A Florida bridgetender has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly raising a drawbridge connecting Palm Beach to Florida before a 79-year-old grandmother walking her bicycle reached the other side.
West Palm Beach police arrested Artissua Lafay Paulk 43, at her home on Thursday in connection to the death of Carol Wright, 79. Her bond is set at $20,000 and a judge issued a no-contact order on Friday, according to Fox 13.
Paulk is accused of opening the Royal Park Bridge over the Intracoastal Waterway on February 6 as the cyclist walked across, causing Wright to plunge 60 feet to her death.
The older woman was walking her bike from Palm Beach toward West Palm Beach around 1 p.m. and was within 10 feet of reaching the safety of the barrier arm that halts traffic when the drawbridge started to go up, police said.
A Good Samaritan, who witnessed the incident, raced to Wright's aid and tried to pull her to safety but lost his grip. She slipped through the gap formed by the rising bridge and the main roadway and desperately tried to cling on, before plunging more than five stories to the concrete base of the 1,238-foot span over the Intercoastal Waterway.
'The woman tried to hang on. There was a bystander nearby who tried to help her, but tragically she fell five or six stories below where she died landing on concrete,' West Palm Beach police spokesperson Mike Jachles said.
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) said in its report released Thursday that Paulk said she checked multiple times and did not see Wright before opening the span that afternoon.
Before raising the drawbridge, the tender is required to get multiple visual confirmations that the span is empty of cars and pedestrians, which the employee claimed she did.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Weird. There are many many cameras pointing at that walkway.
Thank you for confirming this. I thought maybe all they did was look out a window to see if the coast was clear. Maybe too much fog that day?
I’m being sarcastic but you see where I’m going with this.
Already charged with manslaughter. Alec baldwin has not been charged with anything.
Same principle: The person who operates a device has the responsibility for the effects of using the device. He should have known - it was his responsibility to verify. baldwin got away with it.
Can’t rule out sick fun. That’s where I’d place a big bet.
“Her bond is set at $20,000 and a judge issued a no-contact order on Friday, according to Fox 13.”
No-contact with whom?
Even with “/s” that is a mean comment.
charge her with a hate crime.
The perp looks like a recent or current crack/meth addict. Arrest her boss too.
wonder if she was texting and tending...
“...a drawbridge connecting Palm Beach to Florida...”
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Are there no editors/proofreaders anymore?
And the victim was white so the perp will probably get house arrest for 6 months.
Her supervisor, and whoever hired her should also be on trial.
One look at her, and it is obvious she should not be in charge of a draw bridge.
There are a lot of tasks like this that require a lot of attention but little action. Train conductors, pilots (after takeoff, before landing), navigating a ship or boat on autopilot, driving a "self-driving" car, watching automated processes, guarding Epstein's prison cell. Basically, you observe a process where nothing ever goes wrong, until something goes wrong. Some of these people take their job seriously, others watch youtube, surf the web, text, tweet, message, talk on the phone, even sleep. I'd bet this woman was distracted by one of those things.
Her supervisor is her mother-in-law.
Ooopsie
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