Woman falls while trying to cross opening drawbridge

News.com.au

4 days ago

A woman has been seriously injured after a drawbridge in Florida began lifting while she was still walking across it, sending her plummeting to the ground.
The terrifying incident occurred just before 10:45am on Saturday, when police were called to the Brickell Avenue Bridge in Miami.
According to authorities, the bridge started to open for passing boats just as the woman had reached the second half of the bridge.
In footage captured by horrified onlookers the unidentified woman can be seen clinging to railings of the bridge before losing her grip and falling.
A witness named Conor Walsh told CBS News Miami that he had been on a run when he saw the incident unfold.
'She got halfway up, she was holding onto the side, and then she just dropped,' he said.
'She dropped, I don't know, about three-quarters of the bridge, and then she landed. Her shins went through her knee caps and she was on the ground, kind of in shock.'
Another witness, Robert Bruno, told the Miami Herald that he caught the incident on his phone and was in disbelief.
'It was something that I have always thought happening like, 'What would I do?'' he said.
'The woman held on for dear life.'
Emergency crews rushed to the scene, and the woman was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital with serious leg injuries.
One of the officers who attended also suffered a cut to the hand from broken glass and was admitted to hospital for treatment.
Miami police spoke with a man who claimed the woman had been on the bridge earlier that morning, according to CBS News.
Further footage shows at least eight police cars and one fire truck stationed at the scene as investigators continued to collect evidence.
Authorities are yet to release the woman's identity, and the circumstances leading up to the incident remain under investigation.
In 2022, a 79-year-old grandmother was killed while crossing a Florida drawbridge as it opened.
Carol Wright was within 10 feet of the drawbridge's barrier arms that halt traffic when it started to rise, police told the Palm Beach Post at the time.
Despite trying to hold on, she fell 15 metres and tragically died on impact.
The 43-year-old bridge operator plead guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to eight years of probation and 200 hours of community service.