Milwaukee fatal Kilbourn Bridge fall, video shows desperate rescue effort
MILWAUKEE - For the first time since Richard Dujardin fell from a raised Kilbourn Bridge in Milwaukee in August, we’re seeing video of the desperate attempt to save him.
Dujardin was visiting Milwaukee from Rhode Island. His family says he was trying to walk across the bridge to visit a church.
For the first time, we're getting a fuller picture of the rescue attempt on the Kilbourn Bridge.
Warning: The details are disturbing.
"There’s an older gentleman in front of us, and all of a sudden, he goes – because that’s not down yet, but as he walks past it, then beep, beep, beep, it comes down, and I’m like, ‘Wait, he’s not going to keep going, is he?’ Even though it’s not coming up yet. I said, ‘Sir, sir, come back.’ He didn’t respond," said Dalonn Steavens.
Amie Gordon called 911.
"The bridge is going up. I look every day. I’ve worked here for 10 years," said Gordon. "I saw him walking. I got up, I ran, and I was screaming at him like, ‘Sir, sir.’"
"See someone hanging from the RiverWalk?" asked an officer.
"It’s probably my husband. He was walking here," said a woman at the scene.
"He made it under the arm before?" an officer asked.
"Yes," said Steavens.
"So he probably didn’t realize what was going on until it was too late," said the officer.
"That’s what I’m thinking because he kept walking, and it wasn’t even coming up yet, and I was like, ‘Sir, come back, come back.’ I didn’t know if he couldn’t hear," said Steavens.
Police photos reveal hearing aids. Dujardin's family said he was hard of hearing.
"We’re yelling at him, 'We’re here for you,'" said Gordon.
"He was holding on for dear life, and they kept encouraging him – ‘hold on, hold on, hold on,'" said Steavens.
"I seen him," said Corey Evans. "He was holding on, and all of sudden, he must have got sweaty. His hands must have gotten sweaty, and he dropped."
"I’m like, ‘Just hold on,’ and his foot slipped," said Gordon. "I was almost going to try to (expletive) catch him, but he fell so fast."
"Everybody rushed," said Steavens. "Everybody had to rush to him to see if he’s OK or not."
An off-duty nurse was one of those rushing to help.
"I ran up immediately and walked up as fast I could, immediately, and I checked and no pulse and wasn’t breathing," said the nurse.
Milwaukee police arrived as the bridge was still up.
"Yeah, I see people waving me down," said an officer.
"There’s an older gentleman," said a witness. "He fell off the bridge. It was up, and he fell down."
"Oh, (expletive)," the officer said. "He’s bleeding from the face, unresponsive at this point."
Milwaukee firefighters arrived and tried to help, but it was too late.
Rose Marie and Richard Dujardin
"I started doing compressions as we got the pads on," said Avery Kornitz, Milwaukee firefighter/paramedic.
"Avery, a paramedic, said, 'Nah, he’s gone,'" said John Kowalski, Milwaukee firefighter.
"I saw the ending, and that’s when my anxiety started acting up," said Evans. "I started getting worried. I started feeling like I should have done something. I couldn’t."
Later, police officers watched surveillance of the bridge opening.
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"The gate goes down at 12:05:36, and he’s already on the bridge," said a police officer. "He’s past the gate. The gate went down after him, and then at 12:05:46, 10 seconds later, the opposite. The east-end gate went down. The bridge started going up. He’s damn near the top. He’s damn near halfway across the bridge."
The video shows officers talking about the death.
"Yeah, they raised," said an officer. "I thought these were manned."
"No, no," said another officer. "A lot of them are just cameras."
"How do you not notice an old man on the (expletive) bridge?" asked the first officer.
"Someone’s in trouble," the other officer said.
The death left the family without a husband and father and left witnesses rattled.
"It kind of shook me up because even know that was a complete, total stranger, I still have feelings for him because nobody should have to go through something like that," said Clifton Ellis.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office in October said no one would be charged in the bridge death. District Attorney John Chisholm said there was "no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of (the bridge operator) or anyone else in relation to the tragic death."
Jay Urban, attorney for the victim's family, did not get back to FOX6 News on Monday, Dec. 19.