A California woman was airlifted from beneath the state's highest bridge this week, after she fell from the structure while attempting to take a poorly thought out selfie.
According to a Facebook post from the Placer County Sheriff's Office, on Tuesday the woman and "a group of her friends," all of whom were from the Sacramento area, "were walking on the girders underneath the Foresthill Bridge in violation of Placer County Code 12.04.190 and Penal Code 602."
The Foresthill Bridge, which is known by some as the Auburn-Foresthill Bridge or the Auburn Bridge, crosses the North Fork American River near the Sierra Nevada foothills. According to Highestbridges.com, at 730 feet high, it was the second highest bridge in the world when it opened in 1973, and remains the highest bridge in California and the fourth-highest bridge in the US.
During her alleged illegal jaunt across the bridge's girders, police say that the woman "attempted to take a selfie and fell from the girders landing on the trail approximately 60 feet below."
Remarkably, she didn't die on impact, and was "life-flighted to Sutter Roseville Medical Center and is expected to survive." According to the SF Chronicle, it helped that she "landed on a path that was still close enough to the top of the bridge" as "no one would likely survive the fall to the bottom of the American River Canyon."
Paul Goncharuk, a friend of the as-yet unidentified victim, spoke to CBS Sacramento, saying that the six alleged trespassers “were taking a picture on the bridge, and then the big bolts that are holding the beams together, she stepped on them kind of weirdly and lost balance and fell backwards.”
According to Goncharuk, the victim was "knocked unconscious, suffered a deep gash to her arm, and fractured bones that will require surgery."
This week's group wasn't the first time the bridge has been violated, the Chron reports. Citing data from February of 2015, they say that "Dozens of people were cited" that month, including "34 people at two separate points during the same day."
"I'd say over a normal year, we hand out a few citations for the same thing," Placer County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Dena Erwin told the Chron in 2015.
"One misstep and there is no surviving a 730-foot fall. (The daredevils) are not just out there walking -- they are getting braver. There's peer pressure, so when they are out there, they are doing stupid things. We really want this to stop before someone dies."
That message was echoed by the Placer County Sheriff's Office, who reminded people this week that "The walkways under the Foresthill Bridge are closed for the protection of our residents and our community. Any trespassers found on the bridge will be cited."
"Be safe and tour the bridge from the sidewalks above," they write. "This young lady is very lucky to be alive and the consequences could have been worse for her, her friends and her family."
