Photo: Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office
The worker who was operating a drawbridge in Florida has been charged following the death of a woman who fell to her death when the bridge was raised.
A 79-year-old woman was walking her bicycle across the Royal Park Bridge, which connects Lakeview Avenue in West Palm Beach to the island of Palm Beach when the bridge began to open. The woman, who was not identified, was about ten feet from the end of the bridge when she fell between a gap in the bridge and desperately tried to hold on as a bystander rushed over to help.
The bystander was unable to save the woman, and she fell five stories to her death.
The tender operator, Artissua Lafaye Paulk, 43, was taken into custody and charged with one count of manslaughter by culpable negligence. Investigators said that Paulk was not on her cellphone at the time and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
According to WPEC, Paulk claimed that she followed all the proper safety protocols in a handwritten report.
"I walked out on balcony to see roadway for people walking," she wrote. "I went back and turn[ed] my lights to red. I then walked back out on balcony to see that all cars had stopped and no one was on bridge."
Paulk said she then made a second announcement before she started to raise the bridge. After the boat passed through, she made an announcement and lowered the bridge. As the bridge was lowering, a bystander alerted her that a woman had fallen off the bridge.
Lance Ivey, a lawyer for the woman's family, told the news station that they are planning to file a civil suit and suggested that evidence will prove that Paulk did not follow the proper safety procedures before raising the drawbridge.
"We look forward to getting the video evidence," Ivey said. "This seven-minute mental and physical suffering she went through, the true facts are going to be revealed."