Car gets stuck on Florida Keys drawbridge as it was opening, deputies say

A car got stuck on a Florida Keys drawbridge Thursday morning after crashing into the center barrier as the span was opening, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

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Fidel Asencio Gomez, 66, was driving across the Snake Creek Bridge, the only remaining drawbridge on the Overseas Highway, around 5:30 a.m. and did not stop as the signals came on that the bridge was activated, according to a sheriff’s office incident report. He later told deputies that he accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake pedal.

The Kia Sportage was stuck on the lip of one end of the bridge, causing the span to become inoperable, the sheriff’s office said. The bridge connects Plantation and Windley keys in the Upper Keys.

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Normally, the Florida Highway Patrol handles crashes on the Overseas Highway, but, according to the incident report, troopers were unable to respond.

Monroe deputies conducted the investigation, and the bridge remained closed until 8 a.m., Sheriff Rick Ramsay told the Miami Herald.

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Asencio Gomez was treated for injuries at Mariners Hospital in Tavernier.