Former bridge tender who pled guilty to manslaughter arrested after violating probation, records say

The bridge tender who pleaded guilty to manslaughter after lifting the Royal Park Bridge in West Palm Beach with a woman still on it has been arrested again, accused of violating the terms of her probation.

Artissua Paulk, 44, of Greenacres, was initially arrested in March 2022 after she lifted the drawbridge and Carol Wright, 79, who was walking her bike across, fell to her death on Feb. 6, 2022.

Paulk pleaded guilty in January, and Palm Beach County Judge Scott Suskauer withheld adjudication and sentenced her to eight years of probation.

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Artissua Paulk, 44, was arrested on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, accused of violating the terms of her probation. She tested positive for marijuana, court records show. (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)

Paulk failed a drug test on April 4 by testing positive for marijuana, court records said. Her order of probation said she was to not break any laws and not to possess any drugs or narcotics that weren’t prescribed.

Paulk had a weekly visit that day, and the probation officer told her she had been randomly selected for a drug test, to which she agreed, according to a violation report written April 13, requesting an arrest warrant. After testing positive, Paulk admitted to using marijuana.

“I’m sorry,” Paulk said, according to the report. “I smoke to sleep.”

This is the first time Paulk violated her probation, her probation officer wrote in the report.

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Suskauer ordered in January that Paulk complete 200 hours of community service and that she write an apology letter to Wright’s sisters. As of last week, Paulk had not done any community service and had not written the apology, the violation report said.

The probation officer recommended in the report that Paulk have a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew and be evaluated for substance abuse and receive treatment, the report said, in addition to the previous probation conditions.

Paulk is expected Tuesday in court for a plea conference.

A second woman, who was also crossing the drawbridge with her bike, fell earlier this month when a bridge tender opened it as she was crossing. The 57-year-old woman survived.

West Palm Beach Police said the second fall is not being treated as a criminal investigation.

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Angie DiMichele can be reached at [email protected], 754-971-0194 and on Twitter @angdimi.