I’m a bridgetender, and not a shift goes by where I don’t witness someone doing something incredibly reckless or foolish. People seem to think that the world revolves around them, so they get really annoyed when they get delayed by a drawbridge. So, despite gongs, lowered gates, flashing lights, and stopped traffic, they’ll just go under or around the gates and slowly cross the bridge as if they’re tip-toeing through the tulips. As if they can be 100% certain that I see them and won’t raise the bridge while they’re on it, sending them to their deaths. Or as if I don’t have a 3000 gross ton gravel barge bearing down on me that won’t be able to stop in time to avoid crashing into the bridge, potentially killing us all.
They also don’t seem to realize that when they do that, and I do see them, I have to stop my opening procedure and wait, which means miles of cars, and all the other pedestrians and cyclists have to wait, too, so everybody else’s total wait time becomes that much longer. But hey, at least they didn’t have to wait. That’s all that matters, right?
In fairness, not all of them are acting selfish. Some are just oblivious. Sometimes people have sound cancelling earbuds in, and are already on the bridge when I start lowering the gates, so they don’t hear the gongs, and they’re in their own little world, so they also don’t see the flashing lights or the lowering gates. Everybody has to wait for them, too. Those people don’t realize how lucky they are that I’ve seen them, because again, they could easily be killed. A word to the wise: if you’re crossing drawbridges or train tracks, it’s a good idea to take out your ear buds, stop looking at your phone, and pay attention to what’s happening around you.
Then you have the daredevils. The ones who climb the bridge structure, forgetting that there’s no such thing as a soft landing. And the cyclists, skateboarders, joggers and drivers who think it would be fun to jump a bridge while it’s open. Forget that we’re talking about a million pounds of moving concrete and steel, and this isn’t the movies. Many’s the person who has plunged to their death or ripped out the undercarriage of their car or killed themselves by crashing into the gate or the rising span.
And people do like to jump opened bridges, too. (Thanks, Hollywood, for putting that into people’s heads!) If it’s for fun, they forget the fact that they can easily hit the concrete pilings below water level, or that the water is always deeper or shallower or more full of debris than you think, or the current is swift, or, just as you jump, a speeding pleasure craft could zoom through and take you out.
I won’t go into much detail about the people who are jumping for other reasons. That, alone, makes having bridgetenders on bridges worth the money, because all of us, at one point or another, have gotten first responders there in time to talk that person out of it, or at the very least, tell the divers where to look for the body so the family can have closure.
These types of things have been on my mind quite a bit lately, because a while back I wrote a blog post entitled How Bridgetending Turns into Manslaughter, about a 79-year-old woman, Carol Wright, who was riding her bicycle across a drawbridge in South Florida when a completely negligent and incompetent bridgetender raised the bridge, causing her to plunge headfirst for about 50 feet, which, of course, killed her. And then the bridgetender attempted to lie her way out of the situation, not realizing the evidence was stacking up against her. Well, I have a rather shocking update on that story, which will be a blog post coming soon. But naturally it stirred up a lot of emotions in me.
One of my primary frustrations on this job is that people don’t seem to realize how important it is to take these drawbridge openings seriously. And by people, I mean the traveling public, the drawbridge administration, and some of the bridgetenders themselves. But lives hang in the balance. This is not a game.
Here are just a few of the blog posts I’ve written over the years about some of the insanity I’ve experienced while trying to do my job.
To the Jogger Who Jumped Across My Opening Drawbridge
I am proud to say, though, that in my 25 years on the job, no one has gotten hurt or killed due to anything that I have done. I don’t think I could forgive myself if I had to tell you otherwise. I take this responsibility very seriously.
But I don’t think my cautionary tales will really sink in without some concrete evidence of the many ways people have died on drawbridges over the years. Some of these deaths were operator error, but even more were due to foolhardiness. There have also been freak accidents. This is, by no means, a comprehensive list. This is simply what popped up by performing a very casual search. I suspect the numbers, especially with regard to injuries, are much, much higher. Sadly, no one keeps such statistics.
Here’s what I came up with, sorted by year.
1981, in the Florida Keys, a backhoe loaded on a truck, crossing the Seven Mile Bridge, hit the overhead bridgetender’s shack, rupturing a 1,000 gallon propane tank. It caused a fire that killed the bridgetender, Peter C. Fancher, and destroyed the swing bridge mechanisms. That bridge was removed when the new Seven-Mile Bridge opened. (See TODAY in KEY WEST HISTORY / March 2, 1981)
1988, at the Sunrise Boulevard bridge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Lawrence Hirschfield, 75, died when he held on to a metal railing as the bridge was being raised. He fell 50 feet to his death after standing on the bridge under the tenderhouse, which was a blind spot for the bridgetender that should have meant taking extra precautions to make sure everyone was clear. This tragedy presages the one of Carol Wright, which makes it all the more horrible that during that 34 year interval, Florida DOT could not see its way clear to eliminate all drawbridge blind spots by installing mirrors, periscopes, motion sensors or cameras as needed on all their bridges. (See BRIDGETENDER WILL LIKELY BE CLEARED.)
1989, Seattle, Washington. The 100-foot long movable section of the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge was being worked on for routine maintenance on a foggy morning when it unexpectedly rose 4 feet without warning, causing a 7 car pile up. One woman died. 6 were injured, 3 of them seriously. Upon further investigation it was determined that it was an electrical issue caused by melted wire insulation and a screw in a junction box that was too long. (See Bridge Accident Solved — Driver’s Death Blamed On Too-Long Screw, Melted Wire Insulation.)
1992, Chicago, IL, I’m still struggling to imagine this, but somehow, a crane that was involved in the construction of the Michigan Avenue Bridge was hurled into Wacker Drive when one of the bridge leaves acted like a catapult by opening too quickly. Apparently none of the inspectors had the training to determine when a bridge is overbalanced during construction. The iron ball and hook barreled into the back of a car, and several passengers on a bus were injured due to flying debris. (See September 20, 1992—Michigan Avenue Bridges Catapults a Crane.)
1993, Vero Beach, FL, Zebedee Crumpler (And can I just say that I adore that name?) tries to jump his car over the Merrill Barber Bridge. It lands upside down in the Intracostal Waterway. He drowns. (See Man killed trying to beat drawbridge.)
1994, at the Sunrise Boulevard bridge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, again! This one is baffling. Betty Creel Williams, 63, was found lodged between the retaining wall and the open traffic gate, dead. No one ever seems to have figured out how. (See BRIDGE DEATH A MYSTERY)
1995, Hobucken, NC. The Hobucken Bridge Swing span. This one hits too close to home for me to not go into detail. December 10, 1995 was a Sunday, and the Chief Bridge Operator, Gene A Potter, aged 60, had the day off. But he got a call from the bridgetender who was working, telling him there was a bridge malfunction, so he decided to go in and try to fix it. He had worked on this bridge for 25 years, and took his job very seriously. He was beneath the bridge, amongst the moving parts, adjusting the locking mechanism, and he contacted the bridgetender via two-way radio and instructed him to open the bridge.
The bridgetender got it halfway open when he saw Potter lying on the concrete slab. Since this is a swivel type bridge, and the tenderhouse is in the center of the river, when it’s opening, the bridgetender is basically stranded, so he ran out on the balcony and frantically yelled to the man in the first waiting car. That man happened to work at the nearby Coast Guard station. He rushed down and found Potter and attempted to perform CPR, and called the Coast Guard to come over by boat and rush him to get medical treatment, but to no avail. Gene Potter had been crushed to death. This was nobody’s fault, but I bet that bridgetender still feels horrible about it. I can’t see how he wouldn’t. My heart goes out to him.
It took a lot of sleuthing to find anything other than the OSHA Accident Summary about this event, but I did also manage to find two archived articles, so I’ve pasted them and made it into a photo here so they wouldn’t be lost forever. The man deserves that much. But you can also see this report from the Army Corps of Engineers, which mentions the incident in passing on page 141 of the PDF and page 112 of the actual report. That’s how I learned that when this old swing span was preplaced by a fixed span, during the dedication/opening ceremony on May 7, 1997, they named the bridge the Gene A . Potter Memorial Bridge in his honor. Unfortunately, It doesn’t appear that the name stuck, because if you try to look it up online, the bridge is still called the Hobucken Bridge. Just thinking about that brings tears to my eyes. I have contacted NCDOT to inquire about this. If they respond, I’ll update this post.
The old swing span was turned into an artificial reef, which also seems fitting, somehow. Potter left behind a wife and three adult children. (See OSHA Accident Summary Nr: 599639 – Employee killed when crushed by swinging highway bridge.)
2005, Jersey City, NJ. This one is really heartbreaking as well. Two police officers, responding to a call from the bridgetender to place cones and flares to warn drivers that the drawbridge’s early warning signals weren’t working on a foggy night, completed the job and then, not realizing that the bridgetender had opened the bridge for a tugboat before they crossed back over to return to the station, plunged off the open drawbridge themselves. Both died. It was Christmas Eve. (See 2 officers feared dead after truck falls into river.)
2005, Osterville, MA, Philip ”PJ” Jones, 23, jumps off a drawbridge with friends, strikes his head on the concrete piling, and drowns. (See Man dies after leap from bridge.)
2008, Manasota Key, Florida, David Pedroso, 37, attempted to jump an opening drawbridge with his motercycle. He smashes his skull into the gate and dies. His motorcycle continues up the bridge, jumps the gap, and crashes on the other side. (See Motorcyclist dies trying to jump Florida drawbridge, bike sticks the landing.)
2010 Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Two students, Kyle Conrade and Joe Cundall decided to use a railroad bridge as a shortcut to get to a party. The train had already passed over. They did not realize that the bridge automatically returned to an upright position after trains cross it. They got partway across when it started to rise. It is operated remotely. Cundall survived but had to be rescued. His best friend died. (See Officials: 2 men fall from bridge, 1 survives.)
2013, Victoria, BC Canada, Martin Lawrence Alponse was climbing the girders of the Johnson Street Drawbridge when he fell, hit the railing, then fell into the gap between the sidewalk and the roadway. Apparently this was a chronic problem on this bridge. There had been 31 reports of people climbing the girders that year alone. (See Coroner identifies man killed in fall from Johnson Street Bridge.)
2014, Boston, MA. A bridge operator opened a drawbridge on Chelsea river. Aura Garcia, 46, was standing in a blind spot. He heard her screams and immediately lowered the bridge, thinking this would save her. Instead it crushed her. The operator had to be transported to hospital and checked for heart attack because he was so distraught. (I would have been, too.) (See Woman killed in Boston drawbridge accident.)
2015, Lake Charles, LA, the operator of the Black Bayou pontoon bridge got her clothing stuck in the motor while operating it. Police found her face down in the motor. Her cause of death was determined to be head and neck injuries. (See Pontoon bridge operator dies after clothing gets stuck in motor.)
2017, Cape May, NJ, Terrance Naphy and his family were driving across the Thorofare Bridge when it started to rise, and he was forced to gun the engine and jump the single leaf, dropping about 6 feet down onto the roadway. No one was hurt, but the car sustained 10k worth of damage. Bridgetender claimed he was distracted by the vessel’s radio problems, and there was sun glare. (See Family Rattled When Jersey Shore Drawbridge Opens Underneath Them.)
2017, Green Bay, Wisconsin, a van went around the oncoming gates and somehow got wedged in the bridge gap as it opened, and wound up 40-50 feet below street level. Rescuers had to cut a hole in the roof of the van to rescue the driver. (See Van gets trapped in gap of Green Bay’s Walnut Street Bridge.)
2019, at the Black Bayou Bridge again! two Texas men, Alejandro Cazares, 23, and Roberto Alejandro Moreno, 32, attempted to jump the opened bridge with their car. And it wasn’t a quick impulse. Moreno got out of the car and lifted the gate so Cazares could drive under. He then got back in the car, and Cazares backed up, revved the engine, and attempted the jump. They didn’t make it across. Both drowned. (See 2 men killed after attempting to drive car over opening drawbridge.)
2020, North Palm Beach, FL, A bicyclist crossing Parker Bridge was unaware the bridge was going up, and the bridgetender didn’t see him. He found himself clinging to the bridge. A motorist assisted him. He survived, with minor injuries, but his bike was damaged. (See WATCH: Bicyclist clings to rising drawbridge in North Palm Beach.)
2021, Miami, FL, Fred Medina, 58, ignores the warning signals on the South Miami Bridge, and continues to bike across. It goes up, he dies much like Carole Wright did. (See Cyclist killed while trying to beat rising South Miami Avenue drawbridge.)
2021, Chicago, IL, A man drives his car through the dragnet of a lift bridge that was designed to prevent such tragedies, and plunged straight into the water. He later dies at the hospital. His 16 year old son survived. (See Father Who Died After Car Plunged Off Bridge Into Calumet River Identified; Son Expected To Survive.)
2022, Lithuania, American Army Staff Sgt. Robert Magallan, 29, “drove off the middle of a drawbridge” and drowned. (See Army sergeant’s death being investigated after car falls off bridge in Lithuania.)
2022, Palm Beach, FL, Royal Park Bridge. Of course, we have the death of Carol Wright, described above. (And why is the bridge not named after her? It should be.)
2022, West Palm Beach, FL, Lantana Bridge. Less than a month after the death of Carol Wright, a bridgetender is fired for opening the bridge while a car that she “didn’t see” was still on the span. And the footage on this one is scary. (See Lantana bridge tender terminated after drawbridge raises with car on it.)
2022, Jupiter, FL, A pontoon boat was crushed underneath counterweights of the Cato Bridge. The owners had docked there, despite signs saying they shouldn’t. There were no injuries. (See Drawbridge danger witness saw boat almost crushed, feared ‘not everyone would make it’.)
2022 Milwaukee, WI, 77-year-old Richard Dujardin died while crossing the bridge. It went up, he couldn’t hold on. The bridge was remotely operated, and there was mention of camera malfunctions. (See Hard-of-hearing retired journalist, 77, plunges 70ft to death from Wisconsin drawbridge after failing to hear bells or see warning lights because he was looking at his iPad: Wife survives after walking ahead of him.)
2022, Toledo, OH, Christina Price, intoxicated, drove through lowered gates and hit the opened bridge head on, killing 8-year-old Kyla Brown, who had been sitting in her back seat. She is serving 6-9 years in prison for aggravated vehicular manslaughter. (See Toledo woman sentenced in drawbridge crash that killed child.)
2023 Palm Beach, FL, Royal Park Bridge, the same one where Carol Wright died 14 months before. A fisherman found a 57-year-old woman lying under the bridge with her bike, having fallen just as Carol wright had done, except she fell only 10 feet, onto a higher landing. She was taken to the hospital. It was stated that this bridge operator followed all procedures. (See Police want to re-interview woman who fell from Royal Park Bridge.)
2023, Seattle, WA, A bridgetender on the First Avenue South Bridge went missing and was found dead in the water nearby. No foul play, and an inside source told me that his coworkers do not suspect suicide, as he had his lunch laid out and ready to go on the tower desk. He was known to smoke something other than tobacco, so perhaps he fell over the railing. We’ll never know. (See Coast Guard recovers body near 1st Ave Bridge during search for missing bridge operator.)
2024 Pompano Beach, FL, A man walked past the traffic gates, and climbed up the lowering bridge, despite the bridgetender and bystanders screaming for him to stop. He slid down, falling to his death. (See Man who died in weekend fall from Pompano bridge ignored frantic calls to stop, official says.)
2024, Beverly, MA, A pedestrian trespassing on a commuter rail drawbridge was killed by the train. (See Man struck and killed by commuter rail while trespassing on Beverly drawbridge, police say.)
2025, Lake Charles, LA, The Black Bayou Bridge a third time! Eric Linden, 45, crashed his truck into a lowered crossing arm at the drawbridge. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. He dies. (I’m beginning to think someone needs to perform a ritual to cleanse that bridge!) (See Lake Charles man dies in crash at Black Bayou Bridge.)
2025, New Jersey, Ethan Knorr, 20, speeds his car through the lowered traffic gate, hits the lowering span, and dies. (See N.J. driver killed in high speed crash on an open drawbridge, police say.)
2025, Seattle, WA, A man in a stolen car engaged in a high speed chase in which he decided to crash the gates and jump my drawbridge as it was going up! And no, I wasn’t working. I would be in three hours, though. The car was recovered a few blocks away, badly damaged from the jump. As far as I know, they never caught the guy. (See New video released of driver in stolen car jumping Seattle draw bridge. See also my blog post: It’s All Fun and Games Until Some Fool Jumps Your Drawbridge in a Car)
2026, Jacksonville, FL. A car decided to speed across the Main Street Bridge where I used to work. There’s a long stretch of metal grating, and it gets as slick as goose grease. He lost control of his car and hit another driver head on. The speeder died at the hospital. He was 42 years old. The woman he hit had severe injuries, but survived. (See Man dies after car swipes guardrails on both sides of Main Street Bridge, hits oncoming car head-on: JSO.)
So there you have it. If I’ve counted correctly, I found 28 drawbridge deaths without even trying that hard. I’m sure there are more.
If these stories don’t convince you to take drawbridges seriously, heed their warning signals, and not play games, then nothing will. I can’t force you to value your life as much as I do. So all I can ask is that, if you insist on acting stupid, do it when I’m off the clock. But I’d greatly prefer that you just stay safe.
Leave a Reply