79-Year-Old Falls To Her Death From Drawbridge; Bridgetender Arrested

A 43-year-old Florida bridgetender has been arrested in connection to the death of a 79-year-old woman, who fell from a drawbridge that began rising while she was still walking on it.

Artissua Lafaye Paulk was arrested on charges of manslaughter by West Palm Beach police at her Greenacres home Thursday afternoon with the assistance of U.S. Marshals, according to a news release from the department. Detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Paulk two days before she was taken into custody.

According to police, Paulk was the bridgetender on duty on Feb. 6 when 79-year-old West Palm Beach resident Carol Wright fell to her death from Florida's Royal Park Bridge, which connects Palm Beach with West Palm Beach over the Intracoastal Waterway.

Wright was not identified by authorities due to Marsy's Law, but her identity was released by Attorney Lance Ivey, who represents the victim's family, WPTV reported.

Wright had taken her bicycle for a ride to a book shop in Palm Beach and was returning home when she began crossing the bridge on Feb. 6, according to Ivey.

"She legally and lawfully gets on the bridge. And without any expectation, unbeknownst to her, the bridge tender pushes the button that would ultimately turn out to be a slow, mental and physical death sentence for Carol," Ivey was quoted as saying by Fox 13.

When the bridge started rising, the grandmother screamed for help and clung onto the railing, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WPTV and United Press International.

A bystander grabbed Wright's arm and tried to keep her from falling at the time, the affidavit said. However, the man told investigators he had no way to brace himself and she was too heavy so he had to let her go to keep himself from falling into the opening in the bridge.

The 79-year-old woman fell about 50 feet and landed on a concrete surface below the bridge.

Paulk initially claimed that she got a call from a boat requesting the opening of the bridge and that she had made verbal announcements on a loudspeaker to vehicles and pedestrians before turning traffic lights to red.

She also told investigators she went out on the bridge house balcony, from which bridgetenders make sure nobody is on the bridge before raising it, three times to check if anyone was on the bridge.

However, camera footage appeared to show that Paulk never went to the balcony around the time of the incident.

Police obtained a warrant to search through Paulk's phone records, in which Paulk appeared to admit that she was responsible for Wright's death. "I'm here with the police[.] I killed a lady on the bridge," read one of Paulk's texts, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The affidavit also contained information that Paulk's supervisor told her to lie about checking the bridge from the balcony in a text message.

"When they talk to you, make dam (sic) sure you tell them you walked outside on [the] balcony three diff (sic) times to make sure no one was past [the] gates," the supervisor texted Paulk, according to the affidavit.

Paulk was transported to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Main Detention Center, where she was booked and charged with one count of manslaughter by culpable negligence. She made her first appearance in front of a judge Friday morning.

Paulk had been assigned to work at the Royal Park Bridge for two months but had worked for operator Florida Drawbridges for around a year.

Attorney Ivey said the Wright family remains devastated over the victim's death.

"I mean, she earned the right to live out her golden years in South Florida with her loving family in a manner that she chose to do. That was wrongfully taken from her," Ivey was quoted as saying by WPTV.