A former bridge operator responsible for the death of a 78-year-old woman has been sentenced. Artissua Lafaye Paulk, 44, will spend years on probation after Carol Wright fell from an open span of a Palm Beach, Florida bridge. Paulk is being blamed for Wright’s fatal accident as she didn’t look from her balcony to ensure no one was crossing Royal Park Bridge before raising it, according to an arrest affidavit. Wright was walking across the bridge, which connects Palm Beach and West Palm Beach, when she fell.
- Artissua Lafaye Paulk struck a plea deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time. In addition to spending eight years, she’ll also have to perform 200 hours of community service and write an apology letter to Wright’s sisters.
- Paulk has always denied seeing Wright or anyone else on the bridge. She insisted that she stepped out onto the balcony of the bridge tower as protocol dictated, to make sure no one was around before raising the spans. However, surveillance footage proved she lied.
- Wright was unable to be saved. Witnesses told authorities of the terrifying incident, with one person claiming he tried to hold onto Wright but couldn’t brace himself and was forced to let go of her. Another witness, who stopped his car at the traffic light of the bridge, recalled hearing Wright screaming for help before she fell from the span and disappeared from view.
- The driver said he tried to get Paulk’s attention by honking his horn but the bridge did not stop opening. “The bridgetender came out of the tower approximately 30 or 45 seconds before the medics arrived,” the affidavit revealed. “He [this particular witness] could not recall hearing any verbal announcement before the bridge opened or if bridgetender was ever outside on the balcony.”
- Artissua Lafaye Paulk’s negligence cost a woman her life. Video showed that for five of the six openings of the bridge on that day, Paulk did not open her door or step out onto the balcony. She also kept incomplete records and only logged four openings. Her mother-in-law, Kathie Harper, was also working as Paulk’s supervisor at the time of the accident. She texted Paulk after the accident to “make dam[n] sure you tell them you walked outside on balcony 3 diff times to make sure no one was past gates.” Both women were fired.
