JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday released 911 calls placed after a car crashed and then went off the Buckman Bridge in February.
The Florida Highway Patrol said a 20-year-old St. Augustine woman was heading the wrong way on southbound Interstate 295 about 1 a.m. Feb. 22 when she drove into the guardrail that divides the northbound and southbound sides of the bridge.
Troopers said it appears the woman crossed over from the northbound lanes through a gap in the median used by emergency vehicles and then into the southbound lanes.
When her car crashed through the guardrail, it wound up in the St. Johns River, troopers said.
In the first 911 call, the caller says she just saw a vehicle go into the St Johns River, go up in the air and down into the water and wonders if the driver had fallen asleep.
In the second 911 call, a man is very animated and flustered. As the dispatcher picks up, he’s yelling, “Get out of the car! Get out of the car!”
He talks alternately to the dispatcher and the woman who drove off the bridge.
“I don’t know what the hell she did. She’s in the water. The whole car. Everything,” the caller says.
The dispatcher questions, “Which bridge?”
“The Brookman, Brookman….” the caller says.
The dispatcher asks, “The Buckman?”
Once the dispatcher determines the caller is talking about the Buckman Bridge, he says, “There’s a lady sitting on top of her car right now. She’s in the water. She’s OK.”
He answers when the dispatcher asks what kind of car, saying it’s a white vehicle.
“Ma’am, are you injured?” he asks the driver.
Then he tells the dispatcher, “Her knee hurts. She’s f****** lucky.”
“OK. Is there anybody else in the car still?” the dispatcher asks.
He yells down to the woman,”Is there anybody in the car?” Then he tells the dispatcher, “Just her.”
The car did not completely sink, and the woman was helped to shore by a good Samaritan, troopers said.
According to troopers, the woman suffered minor injuries.