the family of the 79 year old woman who died after falling from a drawbridge in West Palm Beach, southeastern Florida, USAof course negligence of the operator, who raised the mobile surface without checking the traffic, will receive compensation of $8.2 millionannounced this Friday a law firm.
Lance Iveyone of the lawyers from the firm that filed the lawsuit on behalf of the victim’s family, today announced the details of the million-dollar settlement with Florida Drawbridges Inc (FDI)the company in charge of the operation of the bridges.
The lawsuit filed last March against Artissua Lafaye Paulk43, the operator on duty the day of the event, and IDF, was seeking monetary compensation for the death of Carol Wright that he was walking on the footpath of the bridge when Paulk picked him up and the woman fell.
The facts
Wright walked the past February 6th By the path pedestrian of the Royal Park Bridge holding her bike in her hands and was approaching the non-lift portion of the infrastructure when the bridge began to rise.
According to the Police, she tried to grab onto a bar, but could not hold on and fell a few 60 feet (18.3 meters) on the cement despite one person’s attempts to help her.
In addition to the 8.2 million dollars that the FDI company will pay for compensation economy, FDI’s bridge tenders since last July 1 “will be subject to check criminal record”.
The company in charge of operating the bridges must also “develop training of recertification with all the tenders of the bridges” that it currently operates, in addition to carrying out “periodic audits of quality”, among other points.
The lawsuit alleges that Paulk “opened negligently the drawbridge,” which caused Wright to “first suffer extreme mental pain and suffering while holding on to (a) bridge railing and, second, fall onto a cement surface which caused him fatal injuries.
falsity in testimony
According to the WESH channel, the prosecution indicates in court documents that Paulk lied when he told the police that before raising the bridge on February 6, around one in the afternoon there had been checked several times that no one was circulating.
The Prosecutor’s Office indicated that, before allegedly lying to the authorities, Paulk spoke with his supervisor by text message about what he should tell the agents and agreed with him to delete those communications.
Those messages were later recovered and formed part of the evidence in this case.
The WESH channel indicated then that, although the operator claimed to have visually checked four times if there was someone on the bridge before raising it, a security video shows that, during her shift, there were only three exits to the balcony for verification, between 8:08 and 9:03 in the morning.
Wright died shortly before one in the afternoon that day.
Paulk’s manner of acting shows a “cruel nonchalance for human life and the safety of a person,” said the Prosecutor’s Office in its indictment.
The victim’s family’s attorney, Lance Ivey, stated that the bridge operator that day didn’t do “the Minimum“necessary to protect the lives of people using the Royal Park Bridge.
(With information from EFE)