The Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS — An off-duty police officer was killed when he drove off an open drawbridge in early-morning darkness Tuesday, and his superintendent said no warning bars or arms had warned the man he was about to plunge to his doom.
A spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, which operates the lift bridge over the Industrial Canal, said the agency is investigating. Lift bridges raise their middles in one piece rather on two hinges.
The body of Tommie Felix, a police officer for 17 years, was inside the silver BMW that was pulled from the canal Tuesday afternoon, New Orleans police Superintendent Warren Riley said.
An initial report by the Coast Guard was that the bridge had been raised at the time of the 2 a.m. accident, said Paul Barnard, the search and rescue coordinator.
“There were no warnings,” Riley said during a news conference. “From early reports, the arms or warning bars, that were supposed to be down when the bridge is up … were not up.”
Barnard said he did not know whether a gate designed to warn motorists when the bridge is raised was functioning at the time.
Riley said Felix, 43, was a highly decorated narcotics officer and, even in his death, probably saved lives.
“Because he tried to stop, several other cars behind him slammed on their brakes and did not go over the bridge,” he said.
According to police, Felix left behind five children ranging in age from 4 to 19.