‘Get out!’ See a pontoon boat nearly crushed by a drawbridge in South Florida
Funseekers out on the water in South Florida last weekend are lucky they escaped with their lives.
Newly shared cellphone video posted on social media shows a pontoon boat under the Cato Bridge in Jupiter, on the edge of the Intracoastal Waterway in Palm Beach County.
The boat apparently stopped in an unauthorized area, and when the drawbridge opened, it began to crush the watercraft that was tied to the span.
“Oh my God! Get out! Get out of the boat!” screams a woman off camera as a handful people in bathing suits can be seen jumping off the boat while others hang on the side as rain falls. “Why are they still in there?”
The Cato Bridge connects Jupiter with Jupiter Inlet. A spokesman for Palm Beach County, which operates the bridge, told CBS12 that the tender was unaware a boat was underneath.
READ MORE: A woman fell to her death from a rising bridge in Florida, and now her family is suing
Jupiter police have no record of this incident. The damage to the boat, which is reportedly privately owned, is unclear.
Things could have gone very differently for the people on the boat.
In February, leisure biker Carol Wright, 79, fell to her death from the Royal Park Bridge in Palm Beach as it began to rise with her on it. The tender, Artissua Paulk, was arrested and charged with manslaughter, and the family is now suing Florida Drawbridges Inc., the company that was hired by the Florida Department of Transportation to operate the bridge.
This story was originally published April 6, 2022 at 11:24 AM.
