HACKENSACK, N.J. – State officials on Monday defended the soundness of a bridge whose malfunction led to the Christmas night deaths of two Jersey City police officers.
Divers, meanwhile, searched for one victim’s body in the Hackensack River.
“We don’t think there’s any problem from an engineering perspective or a structural perspective,” said Brendan Gill, a spokesman for the state Department of Transportation. “The bridge is safe.”
The Routes 1 and 9/Lincoln Highway Bridge, between Jersey City and Kearny, was raised for commercial boating traffic twice on Saturday and once Sunday without incident, he said.
The bridge’s center span is raised by massive counterweights, allowing boats to pass underneath, creating a drop-off on the road.
The officers were responding to a malfunction of the bridge’s wooden gate, steel barrier and lights that prevent motorists from reaching the span when it is raised.
The officers – who moments earlier had placed flares on the Kearny side to divert traffic – apparently did not realize the bridge had been raised. They plunged 45 feet into the river in their Ford F550 emergency services truck, at about 8:20 p.m. on a foggy and rainy night.
Shawn M. Carson, 40, a 16-year veteran of the force, was found in the truck’s cab and pronounced dead Sunday night at a hospital. His funeral was scheduled for Friday morning at Mount Olive Baptist Church on Arlington Avenue in Jersey City.
Missing and presumed dead was Robert Nguyen, 30, a six-year veteran of the city’s Emergency Services Unit.
The bridge remained closed to vehicles while more than 200 recovery personnel – including 75 divers from the state police, Coast Guard, Port Authority, Passaic County and elsewhere – searched the river’s banks and clay-colored water during the day.
Jersey City Police Officer Eric Tavarez identified himself as one of Nguyen’s closest friends. He spent Sunday night and Monday morning in a rowboat, plying the water. “We just need closure,” Tavarez said.
“Everyone’s heartbroken,” said police Sgt. Edgar Martinez.
A statement issued by the Police Department read: “We will search for our fallen brother until we can bring him home to rest.”
Early Monday evening, the search was suspended because of darkness, police said.
Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy said the incident appeared to be accidental, and no criminal investigation was under way. He noted that conditions were hazardous: dark, foggy and rainy.
“I’ve gone over that bridge 1,000 times,” Healy said. “I was there within 20 minutes of the accident and I couldn’t see where that roadway was.”
Healy and the DOT spokesman said they were unaware of any past problems with the bridge. The span is raised 30 to 40 times a month depending on time of year and commercial boating activity, Gill said.
“It’s what’s called an on-demand bridge,” he said, meaning operators respond to requests from boat pilots rather than follow a schedule.
Gill said the officers had responded to a call from DOT workers.
“Everything on the Jersey City side of the bridge was operational,” he said. “We were aware that we had a problem on the Kearny side with the bridge gate and a crash gate. We were taking measures to address that.”
Martinez said the gates and warning system were damaged in a truck accident Friday.
The bridge is staffed 24 hours a day by two DOT employees who work in a bridge house, Gill said. He would not identify the employees on duty Sunday night, and said he did not know whether they had been placed on leave.
“They’re currently being interviewed. We haven’t finished our own investigation,” he said.
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The mayor’s office said neither officer was married and it was believed neither had children. Both were Jersey City residents with ties to the city’s schools.
Nguyen was a graduate of Hudson Catholic Regional High School, Healy said. Carson was an assistant track coach for St. Peter’s Preparatory High School and well known among Jersey City’s high school athletes because of citywide track meets in Lincoln Park.
“They were energetic, upbeat and they did their jobs well,” Healy said of the officers. “As a police officer in Jersey City, often it involves chases and physical confrontations. Both these guys were in great shape.”
Efforts to reach their families were unsuccessful.
Beyond initial news conferences with updates on the search, the Police Department referred inquiries to the mayor’s office and issued a statement.
“These two officers were highly respected and they will be sorely missed not only by their comrades, but by the community they served,” said Police Director Samuel Jefferson. “They were true professionals and they epitomized what every officer should be.”
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AP-NY-12-26-05 2149EST
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