The bridgetender on duty when a 79-year-old Florida woman fell to her death from a Palm Beach bridge has been arrested on charges of manslaughter by culpable negligence.
Artissua Lafay Paulk of Greenacres was taken into custody on Thursday. She had been a bridgetender with the company operating the bridge for over a year. She was assigned to the Royal Park Bridge two months before the accident.
In court documents, deleted text messages from Paulk show she conspired with her supervisor) to lie to the police about what happened.
Authorities identity 79-year-old Florida woman who fell to her death from an opening drawbridge
Authorities identity 79-year-old Florida woman who fell to her death from an opening drawbridge
By Alex Galbraith
Orlando Area News
“When they talk to you make (expletive) sure you tell them you walked outside on balcony 3 diff times to make sure no one was past faes n delete this msg after one time to make sure card (sic) stop 2nd time after gates lowered and 3rd time before you raised spans ok now delete this I know ur upset but u gotta tell them step by stop how u do opening,” the text from her supervisor read.
Paulk also sent a text to another person that said “I killed a lady on the bridge.”
Though Paulk told police she checked the area four times before raising the bridge, authorities say that video shows no one leaving the bridgetender’s office around the time of incident.
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