Three people plunged from the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in separate incidents Monday, leaving two dead and another with life-threatening injuries after one of the most tragic and bizarre days in the span’s nearly six decades. Traffic was snarled for hours on the span as emergency workers scrambled to deal with the incidents.
A 70-year-old man died at a hospital after he fell 53 feet into the water following a crash at around 10:25 a.m., authorities said. His car had been struck by a truck, and when he got out to check the damage he was hit by another vehicle and thrown from the bridge, police said.
About two hours later, authorities received a report that someone had leapt from the bridge, said Division Chief Michael Cox, spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Fire Department.
| Other incidents on the bridge |
| Here are a few other fatalities that have occurred on the Bay Bridge in recent years: |
| » In August 2009, police investigated a possible suicide after authorities found a body in the Chesapeake Bay and an abandoned car on the bridge. |
| » In August 2008, a tractor-trailer plunged over through a barrier and into the water in a three-vehicle crash, killing the truck driver. |
| » In 1998, Severna Parks resident Brandi Care Hicks tried to kill herself by jumping from the bridge. Now, Hicks, 29, speaks to high school students about depression. |
A man in his early 20s was pulled from the water with life-threatening injuries. He was taken to the Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore and was still undergoing treatment Monday evening, said Sgt. Jonathan Green, spokesman for the Maryland Transportation Authority Police. The fall happened at the highest point of the bridge, a plunge of about 180 feet, he said.
Then, shortly before 4 p.m., a third person was pulled from the water after jumping from the bridge about a half mile from the earlier leap, Green said. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead about an hour later at the Anne Arundel Medical Center. He had fallen more than 100 feet into the Bay. A female relative who was with him on the bridge was treated for chest pains, according to the Annapolis Capital.
The morning crash happened after the 70-year-old’s Honda Accord became disabled in an eastbound lane, Green said. The driver got out of the car, and was standing in front of the Honda when it was struck from behind by a 63-year-old man who was driving a large truck. That shoved the disabled car into the driver, which propelled him over the barrier wall and into the water, Green said.
The man was pulled from the water and received medical treatment at the scene before being transported to the Anne Arundel County Medical Center, said Cox. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. The driver of the truck suffered minor injuries but refused medical treatment, Cox said. Authorities said no one else was in either vehicle.
A 54-year-old woman who was in a nearby vehicle and witnessed the crash suffered a medical emergency unrelated to the incident and also received treatment. She was taken to a hospital and had been released by Monday night, Green said.
Green said no charges have been filed against the truck driver and police continue to investigate the crash. He said investigators would look at whether drugs or alcohol were involved.
It was the most tragic day on the Bay Bridge that anyone could remember since the span opened in 1952. “We’ve had a busy day,” said Green.
