Royal Park Bridge tender, supervisor fired after West Palm Beach woman, 79, falls to death

WEST PALM BEACH — The company that operates the Royal Park Bridge has fired both the woman who was tending the span the day a 79-year-old woman fell to her death and her supervisor.

The tender, Greenacres resident Artissua Lafay Paulk, 43, is facing a charge of manslaughter by culpable negligence in the death of Carol Wright on Feb. 6 as she walked westward across the span that links Palm Beach and downtown West Palm Beach.

The supervisor, Kathy Harper, is not facing criminal charges, West Palm Beach police said last week. Their arrest report for Paulk noted that Harper instructed Paulk on what to tell investigators when they questioned her about the incident. A place of residence for Harper wasn't immediately available.

Mike Piscitelli, counsel for Florida Drawbridges, said the company dismissed Paulk "for violation of company Safe Operating Procedures," basing the move on information in her arrest report. Harper violated the company's "Code of Ethics and Document Retention Policy."

Attempts to reach Paulk and Harper for comment Thursday were not immediately successful.

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Police say tender's story didn't match facts

Paulk told the Florida Department of Transportation in the hours after Wright died that she had checked the drawbridge multiple times before raising it at about 1 p.m. Feb. 6, according to her statement, which the FDOT released last week.

She said she raised the bridge at a request of a passing boat and that she went to the outside walkway of the bridge house to check for cars and pedestrians and that she broadcast its closings over loudspeakers. She said she did not see Wright, who fell 50 to 60 feet and landed on the span's concrete footings. 

West Palm Beach police, however, said surveillance-camera videos from the bridge and text messages that Paulk sent – and then deleted – contradicted her statements.

Paulk, whom police described as "distraught" following Wright's death, told investigators she had walked on the balcony surrounding the bridge house to check for pedestrians at least four times before raising the bridge. Videos from the span showed she did not leave the bridge house even once.

Investigators also determined she was not using her phone at the time of the incident but did text people about the incident, including Harper, who instructed her to "make dam sure you tell them you walked outside on the balcony 3 diff times," according to Paulk's arrest report.

Harper ordered Paulk to delete the messages before she spoke to police, and she complied, according to the arrest report.

Family considers lawsuit against bridge operator

Wright tried to hold on to a railing as the bridge went up, then lost her grip and fell to her death, city police have said. A man with a skateboard who was on the fixed part of the span, just several feet away, tried to grab her, but couldn't hold on.

Wright's family said during a Feb. 14 news conference at the western foot of the bridge that her death was preventable. Their attorney, Lance C. Ivey, said his firm was waiting for the result of the police investigation before it decides whether to file a lawsuit.

Wright was a retired journalist who at one point was the business editor of the Palm Beach Daily News. After leaving the Daily News, she was the spokesperson for the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser's Office.

She was riding her bicycle home from the Classic Book Shop on Palm Beach to her home just south of Belvedere Road, Ivey said. She made the 6-mile round trip frequently, he said. 

In a January email to a former colleague Wright mentioned she had recovered from health issues she had suffered in 2021 and had started biking again.

"I feel good, strong and am even back to my daily bike riding," she wrote.

galbert@pbpost.com

@Gerard_Albert3