Woman falls to death as Florida drawbridge gets raised while she biked across
A woman died on Sunday, February 6 when a drawbridge in West Palm Beach, Florida, was raised while she was going across with her bike. The lady was strolling over the Royal Park Bridge, which connects the island of Palm Beach to Lakeview Avenue in West Palm Beach, at approximately 1 pm, according to West Palm Beach police. She was approximately 10 feet from the end of the bridge when it lifted and she went through a break in the road.
West Palm Beach police spokesman Mike Jachles told WPTV, “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. There is a bridge tender, and that bridge tender has certain safety protocols to follow, specific safety protocols... that includes lowering of the gates for the vehicles, lowering of the gates for the pedestrians and making several visual confirmations that there is nobody at either of the spans or past those gates.”
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Jachles informed WPBF that the victim was an "older" woman from West Palm Beach. She didn't have any ID with her, and police were still trying to figure out who she was. It's unclear if the woman attempted to cross the bridge after the standard safety precautions were taken. “So if anybody knows who this person might be, they’re urged to contact the West Palm Beach Police Department," Jachles added.
On Sunday afternoon, the bridge was blocked for about six hours as police examined the area to see how the bridge got raised before it was cleared of pedestrians. They also intended to look at the incident's CCTV video. According to a police Facebook post, the bridge reopened to traffic at 7 pm. The police characterized the bridge tender as "distraught" when they got on the scene.
The bridge is equipped with bells that go off before a gate is lowered to stop traffic ahead of the drawbridge lowering, according to local bicycle safety advocate Juan Orellana. She said, "Palm Beach is accessible only through three bridges and this is the main bridge, so it's used by cyclists. For one thing, you will hear the bell before the arms go down, so when you hear the bell you gotta get out of the way before the bridge goes up. Always drive defensively, always be aware of your surroundings, see what's going on, because it's our life that we're playing with sometimes."