District attorney's office to begin reviewing bridge death investigation this week
Local prosecutors expect to begin reviewing the investigation into a man’s death on the Kilbourn Avenue bridge this week, while city officials look into possible safety upgrades for bridge openings.
Kent Lovern, the chief deputy district attorney for Milwaukee County, said Wednesday the investigation relating to the death of Richard C. Dujardin, 77, of Providence, R.I., is being presented to his office this week. He did not provide a timeline for when a charging decision may be made.
Meanwhile, Milwaukee’s interim commissioner of the Department of Public Works, Jerrel Kruschke, said at a hearing Thursday his department is considering a number of new safety precautions for the opening and closing of bridges. That includes new signage and cameras or bringing back the old model of on-site bridge operators, rather than some working remotely.
On Aug. 15, Dujardin was walking across the Kilbourn Avenue bridge when it began opening for a watercraft to pass through underneath.
An alarm system with lights and bells did go off, but Dujardin, who walked slowly and was hard of hearing, was unable to get off the bridge in time, according to a report from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. He clung onto a railing as the bridge rose to a 90-degree angle and fell 71 feet.
The bridge operator, who controls the bridge remotely using a camera system, remains on administrative leave. Kruschke said he has yet to personally speak to the operator, although the noted the department's "safety team" made contact with him in the aftermath of the incident.
During a 15-minute hearing in front of the city’s Public Works Committee on Thursday, Kruschke said he and his staff have not been briefed on the findings of the Milwaukee Police Department’s investigation. But he did confirm to Common Council members that the camera feed operated correctly that day.
Nick Goodwin of the Public Works Department said the bridge has two cameras on each side that make the deck fully visible, including the gates that drop down to block cars and pedestrians.
But those cameras merely provide a live feed with no audio, and do not record and store any footage. Kruschke said bridge operations over the river have been conducted remotely for at least 25 years. The cameras have never recorded the footage before out of storage concerns.
When Kruschke said the department is looking into installing cameras that do record footage, Ald. Robert Bauman, the chair of the Public Works Committee, was surprised they hadn’t already been installed.
“I would’ve started that process the next day,” Bauman said. “Why didn’t you? It’s a problem for the guilty and for the innocent. Video would prove you didn’t make a mistake versus proving you did. Now it’s all speculation and guesswork.”
Kruschke said Milwaukee’s movable bridges can still be operated on site manually, but his department was still studying the financial impact of returning to that model. He said some bridges would need upgrades, such as installing a bathroom for workers.
Of the 20 movable bridges in Milwaukee, 10 are operated remotely, according to the Department of Public Works. The Kilbourn Avenue bridge is controlled remotely out of the Water Street bridge tower, which also controls bridges over the Menomonee River.
Five movable bridges in Milwaukee are staffed at least 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Four are staffed around the clock every day.
In 2021, the city recorded more than 27,700 openings at its movable bridges, up 19% from 2017, according to the Department of Public Works.
Contact Elliot Hughes at elliot.hughes@jrn.com or 414-704-8958. Follow him on Twitter @elliothughes12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee prosecutors to begin reviewing bridge death this week
