Bridge tender arrested following death of woman on rising West Palm Beach drawbridge
The bridge tender who was operating a West Palm Beach drawbridge the day a 79-year-old woman fell to her death has been arrested.
Artissua Lafay Paulk, 43, was taken into custody on one count of manslaughter by culpable negligence around noon Thursday at her Palm Beach County Home by West Palm Beach police, with the assistance of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Paulk was the bridge tender on duty Feb. 6 when Carol Wright was walking her bicycle across the Royal Park Bridge, police said. At some point, Paulk opened the bridge for a boat that was passing and Wright fell to her death. A nearby bystander had tried to help her.
A warrant for Paulk’s arrest was obtained on March 15, police said. A news release announcing the arrest didn’t provide information on what evidence investigators had. The release said Paulk had cooperated with detectives throughout the investigation.
In a drawbridge incident report, Paulk wrote she had turned on the red lights, waited for a man to finish running across the bridge, lowered the drawbridge gates, made announcements through the speaker and walked out to the balcony four times before raising the bridge, according to CBS12.
On Feb. 15, investigators got a search warrant for Paulk’s cellphone and determined she was not using it at the time of the accident, police said. A drug test she took the day of the tragedy also came back negative, CBS12 reported.
Lance Ivey, the attorney for Wright’s family, told WPBF 25 he didn’t believe Paulk’s account, and that her arrest calls “into validity the accuracy of the statement the bridge tender gave to her employer.” He told the local TV station that the family is planning to sue Paulk’s employer and that they also want to enact changes to prevent another tragedy from happening.
A similar tragedy happened last year in Miami, when bicyclist Fred Medina fell to his death after trying to beat the opening of the South Miami Avenue Bridge. Recently, a 60-year-old man on a motorcycle nearly plummeted to his death in Daytona Beach when he crashed through the gate of a rising drawbridge.
This story was originally published March 18, 2022 at 8:15 AM.
