A bass tournament had been underway, and when Copeland got in the boat, the fishermen were rescuing victims.Ī patrol boat was waiting at a dock on the Illinois River, where it feeds into the Arkansas River, to take Copeland to the barge that struck the bridge. The water was swift and rain-swollen from overnight showers.

The Arkansas River is as wide at Webbers Falls as any place in Oklahoma, a state where river traffic ends for barges. Dispatchers reported a section of the bridge was gone, but not as much as he found – nearly 600 feet was missing. The traffic was backing up for miles on I-40, there was no confusion as to which bridge was down when he got out of the vehicle. 'You have to remember, this was just seven to eight months after the 9/11 so there were a lot of things going through my mind when responding to this incident because you have to think, 'Could this have been a terroristic situation? What are we dealing with when we get there?' And so, as a first responder, those are the things that are running through your head when you are responding to an incident, especially since something like 9/11 was still fresh.' The thought rushed through his mind that maybe two bridges had been taken out and it was a terrorist attack. 64 bridge, both over the Arkansas River at Webbers Falls and about one mile apart. 11, 2001, and some of the early reports he heard from dispatchers over scanner traffic aired some confusion as to which bridge had been hit, the I-40 bridge or the U.S. It was only nine months after the terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon on Sept. He would be the first OHP trooper to see the horror at the bridge and in the water. on that Sunday, May 26, the day before Memorial Day, when the telephone rang.

Usually, he was busiest in the summer months, and of course, on holiday weekends such as Memorial Day. He'd been a trooper for five years and had worked his share of drownings, fatal boating accidents and other incidents on the state's lakes and rivers. Gone but not forgotten: Former mayor to host memorial in honor of Webbers Falls bridge tragedy Read this: How this Oklahoma reporter navigated tragedy and uncertainty to cover I-40 bridge disaster

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