West Palm Beach, FL (WPTV) – A horrible scene took place on a bridge in Florida.
A video from the Ocean Avenue Bridge over the inland waterway in Lantana shows a car driving over a drawbridge when the gates close behind it in October 2021. The driver then stops at the edge of the drawbridge span. Thirty-three seconds later the drawbridge begins to open and the driver is still behind the wheel.
The bridge lifts the vehicle and it swings over a pit with a 40-foot drop. Appearing in a panic, the driver opens the car door. Gravity slides the car forward and it crashes into the sidewalk below.
The bridge closes, and the unknown driver gets in the car again and leaves.
The tender for the bridge, which was on duty that day, now a former Palm Beach County employee, told investigators she “did not see” the vehicle on the bridge until it closed the drawbridge.
The county has suspended a tender for the bridge for policy violations, including visual inspection of spans. She told WPTV’s Scripps radio station that her view from the house on the bridge was closed and she “just didn’t see the car on the bridge”.
WPTV began digging in tenders for the bridge after the death of 79-year-old Carol Wright on Feb. 6, when the Royal Park Bridge, which connects West Palm Beach with Palm Beach, opened as she rode her bike to try to cross it.
Lawyer Lance Ivey, representing the Wright family, said the bridge is owned by the Florida Department of Transportation and equipped with tenders for the bridge from a third party, Florida Drawbridges Inc.
The company did not respond to repeated requests for comment, and the Florida Department of Transportation declined to comment on the investigation.
“When the tender for the bridge pressed that button to raise that bridge, it essentially gave Carol a slow mental and physical death sentence,” Ivy said during the meeting. recent press conference.
Ivy said Wright’s family is fighting to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
“Our goal is never, never, never to happen to another family,” he said.
This story was originally told by Michael Buchiner and John Pachenti wptv.com.