A Florida woman has been fired from her job as a bridge nurse after authorities found her criminally responsible for the February death of a 79-year-old woman. Her manager, who happened to be her boyfriend’s mother, was also fired from her position on Tuesday, March 22, for breaches of the company’s safe operating procedures by both women.
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After Artissua Lafay Paulk, 43, was arrested on Thursday March 17 and charged with involuntary manslaughter in a count of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Carol Wright, she received a written statement from her employer informing her of this that she was no longer employed by Florida Drawbridges. inc
Officials have gathered evidence suggesting that Paulk was responsible for the drawbridge unexpectedly going up on Sunday February 6, causing Wright to fall to her death from the Royal Park Bridge in West Park Beach.
An investigation conducted by the West Palm Beach Police Department, reports FOX 13, spotted Paulk lied to police initially about the circumstances of Wright’s death, finding surveillance video and deleted text messages between the woman and her supervisor, Kathy Harper, about how to cover up her role in the elderly woman’s untimely death.
Wright’s family has secured legal counsel to seek justice for the late grandmother, who died a year before her octogenarian birthday.
Attorney Lance Ivey names Paulk as the sole person responsible for Wright’s death.
He says the woman took a trip to a Palm Beach bookstore and upon her return decided to bring the bridge back to her home. “She comes onto the bridge legally and lawfully. And without any expectation, unbeknownst to her, the bridge tender pressed the button that would ultimately prove to be a slow, mental and physical death sentence for Carol.”
When Paulk allegedly pressed the button to raise the drawbridge, Wright was already 10 feet from the barrier arms, a police report said, and she was unable to successfully back out.
Mike Jachles, West Palm Beach Police Spokesman explained to the Palm Beach Post she rode her bike east to west and had almost reached the extreme point of the moving span when it went up.”
He later said: “The woman tried to persevere. There was a bystander nearby trying to help her, but tragically she fell five or six stories down where she landed on concrete and died.
“Despite these efforts, the woman was unable to hold on and fell to her death on the concrete platform below,” Jachles said. “It was about five to six stories or 50 to 60 feet from where the victim was to where she landed.”
The incident occurred around 1 p.m. and Fire Rescue’s engineering rescue team closed the bridge for nearly six hours as rescue workers recovered Wright’s body.
As the team worked to find the woman’s remains, the two women texted each other about how they could frame Paulk’s hand in the incident. An affidavit prepared by detectives noted that Harper told Paulk in the lyrics to lie during her interview with law enforcement about checking the bridge house balcony for pedestrians.
When Paulk was interviewed, she did as instructed by her boyfriend’s mother and lied to the officers. She made up a story saying she went out onto the balcony to visually inspect the bridge. The woman said she checked for vehicles or pedestrians before opening the bridge.
Police took her statement and described her mood as “disturbed” during questioning.
“This bridge tender has to follow certain safety protocols, specific safety protocols,” Jachles explained, demonstrating the woman’s responsibility in her professional capacity. “This includes lowering the gates for the vehicles, lowering the gates for the pedestrians, and multiple visual confirmations that no one is on any of the spans or behind these gates.”
Jachles said the footage officers viewed did not agree with Paulk’s original statement, causing them to question her story.
“There are a number of different camera angles from different sources that have been used as evidence and checked to confirm what the witnesses said,” he said.
Paulk didn’t give investigators her cell phone until two weeks after Wright’s death. It was at this point that officers discovered the plan to cover up Paulk’s role in the incident.
Here are the messages law enforcement was able to retrieve from the phone, though Paulk tried to erase, and filed in the arrest affidavit in Palm Beach County court records.
“3:20 p.m. from the supervisor to Paulk: If they talk to you [expletive] Make sure you tell them you went outside on the balcony 3 times to make sure nobody was past the gates and delete that message after one time to make sure the map [sic] Stop the 2nd time after the gates are lowered and the 3rd time before raising the spans. Ok, now delete this„
“3:20 p.m. Paulk to the supervisor: “I did” – this message was deleted„
„3:59 p.m. from supervisor to Paulk: “You have to write down step by step what you did well until you were told that someone had fallen” – this message has been deleted„
At 3:44 p.m. between messages to Harper, Paulk sent a correspondence to a friend who confessed to the crime, “I’m here with the police, I killed a lady on the bridge.”
After reviewing the results of the affidavit and the arrest, Florida Drawbridges, Inc. decided to fire both women. Paulk worked for the company for a year and only spent two months on the Bridge assignment. No charges were announced for her superior.
If Paulk is convicted of the crime, she faces a maximum of 15 years in prison.
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