NEW ORLEANS — Shortly after 2 a.m. Tuesday, Tommie Felix's silver BMW moved up onto an open drawbridge, past a safety barrier that failed to drop, and careered off the roadway, plunging into darkness.
Felix, 43, a veteran New Orleans police officer and father of five, failed to free himself from the driver's seat as his car sank into the Industrial Canal. Meanwhile, cars screeched to a halt on the Judge Seeber Bridge; one witness recalled seeing headlights disappear into the night, followed by a "loud bang."
By late morning, the Coast Guard had found the car below the Claiborne Avenue bridge and recovered Felix's body. By midday, the New Orleans Police Department was mourning the loss of a beloved officer — the third time in seven months the department has done so.
The accident remains under investigation, officials said, but details released Tuesday outline how the bridge's alert system may have failed the longtime narcotics officer, who before his sudden plunge had survived high-speed chases and gunshot wounds while serving his city.
State transportation department investigators will scrutinize the bridge's safety mechanisms. NOPD traffic investigators already have learned that the bridge control arm — the white-and-red-striped, lighted safety barrier — was "not in the down position," according to an NOPD news release.
That gate, which swings down across the roadway to stop motorists, is controlled by an operator in a booth above the roadway, said William Ankner, secretary of the state Department of Transportation and Development.
The Judge Seeber Bridge, which passes over the Industrial Canal on Claiborne Avenue in the 9th Ward, is a vertical-lift drawbridge. The bridge's central plank rises along the lift structure in one piece, leaving only safety gates to block cars from falling into the water below.
The state transportation department, which operates the drawbridge, on Tuesday began a full-scale evaluation to find out how the accident happened, Ankner said.
Ankner said engineers will examine the mechanics of the bridge and the actions of the operator, who has been suspended with pay pending the investigation.
"I want to make sure this tragedy never happens again," Ankner said.
A ship was passing through the Industrial Canal around the time of the accident, Ankner said. Investigators interviewed the captain, Ankner said.
— Bridge-raising routine —
The operator must follow a set sequence when raising the bridge for shipping traffic, Ankner said. First, the operator puts on the warning light, which is a traffic signal, to tell cars the bridge will be lifted. Next, a gate with attached flashing lights is lowered. Then the operator raises the drawbridge, he said.
One driver who was heading in the opposite direction on Claiborne Avenue said he saw no gate between motorists and the chasm at the time of the accident.
Tony Ortego, who was driving to his Chalmette home from the Hornets game at the New Orleans Arena, said he was driving up the initial approach of the bridge when the car in front of him suddenly braked to a stop, about 10 feet from the end of the roadway. Ortego slammed on his own brakes.
He got out of his car, as did the man in the car in front of him, and both noticed that the gate designed to block traffic had failed to lower, despite the fact that the bridge had been raised. However, the lights on the gate were flashing, Ortego said.
As he looked across the canal, Ortego recalled, he saw headlights approaching. Suddenly, the headlights disappeared, followed by a "loud bang," Ortego said.
Soon after, the bridge came down and the operator appeared.
"We started yelling, 'A car just went into the water,' " Ortego recalled, describing the operator as lacking a "sense of urgency."
The operator told the people at the foot of the bridge he also saw the accident. "He said, 'I know what happened, I called the police,' " Ortego said.
Ankner declined to identify the operator.
Ortego also said streetlights on the eastern end of the bridge, where the officer was driving, were not working. They remained dark on Tuesday.
— Award-winning work —
Felix became a New Orleans police officer in 1991. He made headlines just a year into his tenure when he nabbed a 15-year-old boy after a high-speed pursuit and car crash. Felix walked away with minor injuries and in the following years, won life-saving and merit awards.
Felix escaped a shootout with a burglary suspect in 1995 with moderate injuries. A bulletproof vest spared him.
As a narcotics officer, Felix often put himself at risk, undertaking countless undercover drug buys, said Maj. Michael Glasser, his former supervisor.
"I've never met a more dedicated individual," Glasser said. "He is irreplaceable."
Felix had worked a shift earlier Monday, according to Riley. His colleagues couldn't say where he was heading at the time of the accident, Riley said.
At a news conference Tuesday outside Police Department headquarters, Riley said several vehicles stopped just feet short of plummeting off the open drawbridge, after watching Felix's car fall. He noted that the situation could have been much worse — and claimed more victims — if motorists hadn't seen Felix's descent.
Riley paused when asked about the effect of the deaths of three separate officers within the past six months. Officer Nicola Cotton, 24, was shot to death with her own gun in late January after a confrontation with a man in a parking lot. Sgt. Thelonious Dukes died in November after being shot in his home by a robber in October.
"When I became superintendent, the one thing I prayed is that I would never have to bury a police officer," he said.
Felix is survived by his wife and five children, who range in age from 4 to 19.