Officials have identified a woman who fell about 50 feet to her death from a Florida drawbridge Sunday. Investigators said the 79-year-old West Palm Beach resident was walking her bicycle in the pedestrian lane of the Royal Park Bridge connecting the town of Palm Beach to West Palm Beach around 1 p.m. She was coming from the island to the city of West Palm Beach when the incident happened.Detectives say the woman’s name will not be released due to Marsy’s Law, but she was positively identified by authorities on Monday night. According to a news release from police, the woman was approximately 10 feet from the westernmost section of the elevating bridge span, approaching the stationary segment of the bridge, when she attempted to hold on to a railing, then lost her grip and fell about 50-60 feet to her death. A skateboarder on the fixed span tried to help but could not reach her. “There was a man who tried to help this woman as she was holding on to the elevated bridge, but unfortunately he was not able to rescue her,” said Mike Jachles, public information officer for the West Palm Beach Police Department. “Unfortunately and tragically, she fell, landing about 50 to 60 feet below, where the mechanical parts to the bridge are, and she died on impact.”VIDEO: West Palm Beach police give update on investigation into deadly bridge fallThe bridge remained closed for six hours while the on-scene investigation was conducted.Investigators said the Florida Department of Transportation contracts a company called Florida Drawbridge, Inc. to be the bridge tenders. Neither the Florida Department of Transportation nor Florida Drawbridge, Inc. have provided a comment.”There are crossing arms,” Jachles said. “There are warning signs and there are safety procedures in place for the bridge tenders to follow, with multiple steps and multiple layers of checking to make sure that there are no cars or people on the bridge when it goes up. So that’s all part of the investigation, to determine whether procedure was followed or whether this woman crossed after the signals were down.”Officials said the bridge tender was “very upset” at what happened and is being interviewed as part of the investigation.The skateboarder who attempted to help the victim is also being interviewed.
Officials have identified a woman who fell about 50 feet to her death from a Florida drawbridge Sunday.
Investigators said the 79-year-old West Palm Beach resident was walking her bicycle in the pedestrian lane of the Royal Park Bridge connecting the town of Palm Beach to West Palm Beach around 1 p.m. She was coming from the island to the city of West Palm Beach when the incident happened.
Detectives say the woman’s name will not be released due to Marsy’s Law, but she was positively identified by authorities on Monday night.
According to a news release from police, the woman was approximately 10 feet from the westernmost section of the elevating bridge span, approaching the stationary segment of the bridge, when she attempted to hold on to a railing, then lost her grip and fell about 50-60 feet to her death.
A skateboarder on the fixed span tried to help but could not reach her.
“There was a man who tried to help this woman as she was holding on to the elevated bridge, but unfortunately he was not able to rescue her,” said Mike Jachles, public information officer for the West Palm Beach Police Department. “Unfortunately and tragically, she fell, landing about 50 to 60 feet below, where the mechanical parts to the bridge are, and she died on impact.”
VIDEO: West Palm Beach police give update on investigation into deadly bridge fall
The bridge remained closed for six hours while the on-scene investigation was conducted.
Investigators said the Florida Department of Transportation contracts a company called Florida Drawbridge, Inc. to be the bridge tenders. Neither the Florida Department of Transportation nor Florida Drawbridge, Inc. have provided a comment.
“There are crossing arms,” Jachles said. “There are warning signs and there are safety procedures in place for the bridge tenders to follow, with multiple steps and multiple layers of checking to make sure that there are no cars or people on the bridge when it goes up. So that’s all part of the investigation, to determine whether procedure was followed or whether this woman crossed after the signals were down.”
Officials said the bridge tender was “very upset” at what happened and is being interviewed as part of the investigation.
The skateboarder who attempted to help the victim is also being interviewed.