Last Sunday, April 2, a 57-year-old woman fell off a bridge with her bicycle just as she was getting up, but luckily a fisherman heard her screaming for help and called 911.
During the 911 call, the man is heard saying, “I need the Coast Guard on the Okeechobee Bridge, a woman fell off the bridge while opening it on her bicycle.”
According to investigators, the woman fell from a height of 10 feet onto one of the bases of the bridge called Royal Park Bridge.
Jeffery Roberts, who witnessed the events, recalled: “We heard her cries for help and we tried to get her to answer where she was, and at one point we heard her talking to other people so that they were circling the base.”
Authorities investigated what happened at the time, noting that fortunately he suffered only minor injuries.
Mike Jachles, portavoz de la policía de West Palm Beach, dijo que ahora están “en una misión para averiguar todos los hechos y determinar exactamente que sucedió y asegurarnos que las medidas de seguridad fueron seguidas y asegurarnos que la mujer que cayó recuerda de forma precisesa what happened. Admittedly, it must have been traumatic for her.
West Palm Beach police are not considering the incident a criminal investigation, but the fall is the second to occur on this same bridge since last year.
In February last year, a 79-year-old woman died when she fell from the bridge while it was being lifted. The family members reached an $8 million settlement after suing the company that operates the bridges, Florida Drawbridge INC.