NEGLIGENCE

Florida Drawbridge Operator Charged After Cyclist Plunges to Her Death

Carol Wright was walking her bike across a West Palm Beach drawbridge when it suddenly started opening beneath her feet.

A Florida bridge operator has been charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence after a 79-year-old woman on her daily bike ride through West Palm Beach plunged to her death last month. Carol Wright was walking her bike across the bridge when it suddenly started opening beneath her feet. She tried to hang onto a railing but fell 60 feet to the pavement below. Prosecutors will allege 43-year-old Artissua Lafay Paulk did not complete mandatory visual inspections before opening the bridge. Friends said Wright, a retired journalist, became an avid cyclist after buying a beach cruiser 10 years ago on a mission to lose weight. “She was doing so good,” her neighbor, Ron Taylor, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in February. “She was as happy as I have ever seen her.”