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A 77-year-old Rhode Island man was vacationing in Milwaukee with his wife when he died in a gruesome fall as a downtown bridge opened, authorities said.
Just after noon Monday, Richard Charles Dujardin, a former religion reporter who lived in Providence, Rhode Island, was crossing the Kilbourn Avenue Bridge over the Milwaukee River with his wife, Rose-Marie, according to a report from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Richard was looking at an iPad while walking, the report said.
Rose-Marie made it all the way across the bridge to its east side, and Richard was still in the middle of the bridge when it began to rise, according to the medical examiner.
„The lights, bells, and arms came down at each end of the bridge, however Richard was hard of hearing and it is thought that he didn’t notice them,“ the report said.
Dujardin, who also walked slowly and used a hearing aid, tried to catch up to his wife when the bridge began to open, but he couldn’t make it to her in time. He grabbed onto the side railing and held on for one to two minutes as the bridge continued to rise, the report said.
He held on as the bridge deck rose to a 90-degree angle but eventually lost his grip and fell 71 feet to the concrete street behind him, the report said.
Dujardin suffered head trauma and died from his injuries at the scene, the medical examiner said.
Witnesses on Monday said police performed CPR when they responded to the scene. Paramedics also used a defibrillator to try to revive him.
The Dujardins were in Milwaukee on vacation and were staying at a hotel downtown. They were supposed to fly home Monday, the report said.
As more details emerged Tuesday about the man’s death, questions remained as to how the bridge operator — controlling it remotely — could have missed the man on the bridge in surveillance video.
