By Brendan McCarthy
Times-Picayune
NEW ORLEANS — The bridge operator on duty in May when the Judge Seeber Bridge’s safety system failed and a New Orleans police officer plummeted to his death will be booked with negligent homicide, New Orleans police said Friday.
The safety barrier on the Claiborne Avenue drawbridge was not in place at the time of the accident, and a preliminary investigation by the state transportation department noted that a series of mechanical breakdowns and a critical error by the bridge operator led to the death of veteran New Orleans Police Department Detective Tommie Felix.
The NOPD’s traffic fatality unit wrapped up its investigation Friday and secured a warrant for the arrest of the bridgetender, Samuel Johnson, 47, of New Orleans, according to a Police Department news release.
The investigation revealed that Johnson “neglected to follow safety procedures when raising the bridge,” according to police. That failure was responsible for Felix’s car plunging off the raised portion of the bridge, the Police Department said.
A spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, which manages the bridge and employed Johnson, released a statement Friday but declined to comment further.
“It’s inappropriate for us to comment on a criminal matter,” Brendan Rush said. “Generally speaking, DOTD expects its employees to follow all safety procedures at all times.”
Johnson’s identity was released Friday for the first time since the accident. Though the state highway department declined to comment on Johnson’s job status or whether he had been fired, transportation officials said a week after the accident that proceedings were under way with the state Department of Civil Service to fire him.
Felix, a father of four, was a 17-year police veteran who worked in narcotics and on several task force units. He was off-duty May 20 about 2 a.m. and traveling west on North Claiborne Avenue in his silver BMW. The city streetlights leading up to the Judge Seeber bridge were out. The lights on the bridge also were out, a witness said.
As Felix approached the vertical-lift drawbridge, the warning gate designed to stop traffic was raised. A secondary barrier designed to block the entire roadway had not worked in years, officials later confirmed.
Felix’s vehicle plunged into the Industrial Canal into water at least 25 feet deep. His body was recovered hours later.
A state highway department investigation noted the mechanical errors, but it also laid significant blame on Johnson. It noted that he failed to lower additional warning gates and failed to double-check that the gates were down before raising the drawbridge for a passing boat.
James Willeford, an attorney for Felix’s family, said Friday afternoon that the state transportation agency has asked for a settlement demand. No agreement has been reached.
Willeford said the highway department has been cooperative and that inspectors took him and the family to the scene two months ago and showed them what happened.
Copyright 2009 Times-Picayune
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