An elderly man died Monday after he plummeted roughly 70 feet when a Milwaukee drawbridge opened up beneath him.
The victim, identified as 77-year-old Richard Dujardin of Providence, Rhode Island, was walking across the Kilbourn Avenue Bridge with Rose-Marie, his wife of 54 years, when it raised, according to the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner.
Dujardin attempted to hold on to the side rail, but his grip gave out and he fell onto the underlying pavement, according to multiple reports.
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The Rhode Islander, who was apparently hard of hearing, was on his iPad in the middle of the bridge when it raised, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
His wife had already made it to the other side.
“Still surreal, we’re in shock still, I think,” Julianne Grew, Dujardin’s daughter, said.
The camera-monitored bridge is manually operated, and on the day of the tragedy, it was manned by an employee of the Milwaukee Department of Public Works who has since been placed on leave.
The employee had done the job for four years and successfully conducted hundreds of bridge openings, Interim Public Works Commissioner Jerrel Krusche said.
Dujardin served as a religion writer at the Providence Journal for more than 47 years.
He had “the ability to listen deeply … and always generously captured his subjects,” according to the publication.
“One of his favorite moments in life was meeting Pope John Paul II in person and giving him cards that my siblings had made for him,” Grew said. “He was very proud of that moment.”
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Dujardin and his wife had six children.
