Girl Dead After Being Tossed from Florida Bridge, Police Say

Published at 5:23 am, January 8, 2015

EastIdahoNews.com Staff

iStock/Thinkstock(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) — A girl has died after being tossed over the side of a bridge in St. Petersburg, Florida, police said.

The situation occurred early Thursday on the approach to the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, which connects St. Petersburg to Terry Ceia over Tampa Bay in the western part of the state.

A police officer, chasing a speeding driver, saw the person stop their car and toss the child — who’s roughly 5 years old — from the bridge before driving away, St. Petersburg Police said. The driver was stopped about 30 minutes later.

Rescue crews found the girl, but they could not resuscitate her, police said.

The man who threw the girl into the water is believed to be the victim’s father, police said.

The identities of the victim and suspect have not been released.

St. Petersburg Police Department spokesperson Yolanda Fernandez said police are stunned by the incident.

“We have no idea why anybody would do something like this as to throw a child over a railing of a bridge into the water, let alone on a night like this and the temperatures and conditions that we have today,” she told ABC television affiliate WFTS.