Woman hospitalized after falling from Brickell Avenue Bridge as it opened, Miami Police say; officer also injured
A woman was taken to the hospital on Saturday morning after a bridge connecting Downtown Miami and Brickell began to open while she was crossing and fell from a towering height, police said.
Just before 10:45 a.m., City of Miami Police responded to a call at the Brickell Avenue Bridge regarding a woman who was reportedly injured when the bridge began to open as she crossed it. According to police, the bridge opened just as she made it to the second half of the structure.
Witnesses told CBS News Miami that the woman was seen dangling from the top of the bridge as it opened for boats to pass through the Miami River. In a video posted to TikTok, you see the unidentified woman holding on to the bridge before falling.
"Rescue is en route," said a 911 dispatcher. "Pedestrian was on it and fell from the top at 10:44."
Conor Walsh, who was on a run at the time, told CBS News Miami that he witnessed the woman trying to cling to the bridge.
"She got halfway up, she was holding onto the side, and then she just dropped," he said. "She dropped, I don't know, about three-quarters of the bridge, and then she landed. Her shins went through her knee caps and she was on the ground, kind of in shock."
Miami Police told CBS News Miami that its officers immediately took action and rescued the woman, and she was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital to be treated for serious injuries to her legs.
Miami Police added that one of the responding officers sustained a cut to their hand because there was some shattered glass at the scene and was also taken to the hospital.
Police were seen speaking to a man on the scene, who could be overheard telling officers that the woman was on the bridge earlier in the morning.
Another social media video showed a heavy police response to the bridge, where crime scene investigators were seen collecting evidence and trying to figure out how the incident happened.
Witnesses also told CBS News Miami that her reaction was just as shocking as the fall.
"Trying to hold her down," Walsh said. "I don't know if she was in shock or something, but she kept on moving around."
The circumstances surrounding the incident remain under investigation.
