A bizarre incident occurred when a 72-year-old man cycling across the Hallandale Beach Boulevard Bridge plunged into the water as the drawbridge rose, according to authorities. The incident, which happened on Sunday evening, triggered an immediate search operation.
Hallandale Beach police were alerted to the situation when they received a call about a person falling off the bridge; the bridge operator told police she had raised the bridge around 9:15 p.m. but did not see or hear anyone, police said she reported the bridge's activity but it was during that critical time frame the man found himself caught amidst the rising roadway. A witness provided authorities with a cell phone video showing the man on his bicycle falling from the bridge, as outlined in an NBC Miami report.
The search culminated when the Broward Sheriff’s Office Department of Fire Rescue located the man's bicycle in the water behind the Hyde Hotel. Ultimately, the man was discovered "lying in a fetal position on a floating jet ski ramp next to a Hyde Hotel dock," authorities added in an incident report, his condition non-life-threatening but still concerning, as detailed by NBC Miami.
Despite the harrowing fall, the victim was conscious and able to communicate that he had fallen off the bridge details confirmed by video recorded by a witness showing the elderly cyclist dangling and then plunging into the water as the bridge opened, as reported by Local 10, the man was rushed to HCA Florida Aventura Hospital. "The witness stated she observed and video recorded, a person on a bicycle, hanging onto the railing of the bridge, as the bridge opened up," police said, indicating the perilous situation the man faced as he tried to hold on for as long as he could before inevitably falling into the water below.
The reason the man was on the bridge as it rose is still unknown, and local authorities are investigating what led to his unexpected fall.