Bridge Tender Charged with Manslaughter After 79-Year-Old Grandmother Falls to Death from Rising Span
A Florida woman is facing a manslaughter charge in connection with the February death of a 79-year-old woman who fell from a drawbridge. Artissua Lafay Paulk, 43, of Greenacres, Florida, was the bridge tender on the day…
A Florida woman is facing a manslaughter charge in connection with the February death of a 79-year-old woman who fell from a drawbridge.
Artissua Lafay Paulk, 43, of Greenacres, Florida, was the bridge tender on the day Carol Wright died, and faces a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence, according to WPTV-TV.
Paulk initially told police that she had checked to be sure there were no vehicles or pedestrians trying to cross the span connecting Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, but video evidence proved otherwise, police said.
West Palm Beach police spokesman Mike Jachles said Wright had “tried to hang on,” but could not, according to the New York Post.
“There was a bystander nearby who tried to help her, but tragically she fell five or six stories below where she died, landing on concrete,” Jachles said.
A probable cause affidavit said Paulk’s supervisor, Kathie Harper, told her to tell police she had checked the bridge. Harper is Paulk’s mother-in-law.