Newly released video shows the disbelief of police officers when they first learned of the extent of the damage to Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge when it collapsed in March — and the dramatic moment a construction worker was led safely to shore after being pulled from the water.
The video, released by the Baltimore Police Department this week to NBC affiliate WBAL of Baltimore, shows the officers’ stunned reactions after the enormous structure was taken down.
The video opens with footage of an unidentified officer driving towards the river in his squad car with sirens blaring at 1:40 a.m. on March 26, just 11 minutes after the 100,000-ton cargo ship Dali smashed into the bridge’s supports after losing control of its steering.
The officer arrives at 1:48 a.m. and asks an officer already at the scene: “Is that the Key Bridge collapsed?”
“Yeah it’s the whole bridge, a ship lost its steering and the whole bridge is down in the river,” he responds.
The original officer, struggling to take in the size of the disaster then says: “I mean, that’s the Key Bridge … wow.”
Another officer says: “We got a call a minute, if that, before it hit it.” He then adds: “This is gonna be a hell of a cleanup.”
The officer discuss how there were workers on the bridge at the time of impact, with about “20 if not more” unaccounted
Just before 2 a.m. the officers learn a person has been recovered from the water — moments later a man in a yellow high-visibility jacket is seen in the video. This was later confirmed to be Julio Cervantes Suarez, the sole surviving member of the seven-strong construction crew, all Latino men who had been friends for years, working through the night on the bridge.
He told NBC News earlier this month that he was in his truck when the bridge came down, leaving him with water up to his neck. He escaped through the vehicle’s window before calling out the names of his co-workers. “I started to call out to each one of them by name,” he said. “But no one answered me.”
“That’s a long fall,” one officer says of the missing construction workers. “I mean, that guy looked like he was all right, but it’s cold.”
Highlighting the sheer size of the disruption the bridge’s collapse caused for the region, another officer says at one point: “I gotta find a new way home. I used to take that everyday.”
The Maryland Transport Authority plans to use mechanical cuttings tools and explosives to demolish what is left of the bridge.
Brian Wolfe, director of project development for the MDTA, told a public hearing Thursday night that the demolition work would start in late fall and take several months, while plans remains on track to have the bridge rebuilt and reopened by October 2028, WBAL reported.
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