South Florida drawbridge tender fired after raising bridge with car on it: report

LANTANA, Fla. - A South Florida drawbridge tender was reportedly fired after video showed how she raised a bridge with a car still on it.

Video of the incident, which was from October 2021, was obtained this week by WPTV through a public records request. This comes after a 79-year-old woman fell to her death from a Palm Beach County bridge in early February.

The video was taken at the Ocean Avenue Bridge in Lantana, also in Palm Beach County, on October 21.

A silver sedan can be seen driving onto the bridge with the gate then closing behind it. The vehicle then stops at the edge of the drawbridge span, near the bridge tender's tower; why the driver stopped there, however, is unclear.

Just over 30 seconds later, the video shows the drawbridge beginning to open, lifting the back of the vehicle while the car begins to rest on its front bumper.

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As the car precariously balances over the opening to the water below -- a 40-foot drop -- the panicked driver opens his car door, waving his arm in what appears to be an attempt to get someone's attention.

Eventually the bridge reaches full height, allowing gravity to slide the car forward. That's when the video shows the vehicle slamming back onto the pavement, but with the back tires stuck in the gap.

The unidentified driver could then be seen walking around his car while on his phone. Once the bridge starts to go back down, lifting the back tires back up, he then got back in the car and drove off.

WPTV reports that Palm Beach County terminated the bridge tender nearly 3 weeks after the incident for violating their safety protocols, which included visually inspecting the bridge spans. She told investigators that she did not see the vehicle until she closed the drawbridge.