Man Changing Tire Falls from Skyway Bridge, Lives

A Bradenton man is recovering from minor injuries sustained after he fell from the Skyway Bridge Sunday night and plummeted into the water 30 feet below.

The incident began to unfold around 9:19 p.m. as Reginald White was heading across the bridge near the No. 9 milepost when his SUV’s right rear tire blew out. According to the Florida Highway Patrol, White stopped his vehicle in the inside lane of the bridge and went to work swapping the flat out with a spare.

As he was in the process of changing the tire, White “lost his balance, fell back over the wall and into the water,” a highway patrol media release stated.

St. Petersburg Police, Fire Rescue and other agencies were called in to locate the man. The highway patrol said he was found rather swiftly and was taken to Bayfront Medical Center with only minor injuries.

White’s two passengers got out of the vehicle when he did, but neither fell nor were they injured, troopers reported.

The Skyway Bridge connects St. Petersburg to Manatee County. It is frequently the scene of suicide attempts as its highest point soars some 190 feet above water, PBS notes.

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Photo from the Florida Department of Transportation’s Facebook page

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