Rope Jump Instructors Don’t Remember Who Was Supposed to Attach Cord Before Woman’s Fatal Fall, Investigators Say
NEED TO KNOW
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Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas, 21, died after falling about 131 feet from a bridge in Brazil on June 13
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Police said Rodrigues de Freitas was launched from the bridge without being connected to the equipment meant to stop her fall
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Investigators say the rope jump instructors charged in the case do not remember who was supposed to attach or check the safety ropes
The instructors charged after a 21-year-old woman died in a fatal rope jump say they don’t remember who was supposed to attach the safety cord.
According to the Associated Press, police investigator Andrea Dantas Levy said the three instructors told authorities they do not remember whether they forgot to attach the ropes, who was supposed to do it or who failed to check them before the jump.
“They do not remember whether they forgot to attach (the ropes), or who was supposed to do it, or who failed to check. But the fact is the ropes were not attached to her,” Levy said, according to the AP.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas died on June 13 while participating in a rope jump from the Ponte do Esqueleto, or Skeleton Bridge, in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, the AP reported.
Maria Eduarda Rodrigues de Freitas
Credit: facebook
The São Paulo Secretariat of Public Security said three instructors — ages 27, 32 and 42 — were arrested and charged with homicide with dolus eventualis, meaning authorities believe they were aware of the risk of death but proceeded anyway, per the AP.
PEOPLE previously reported that Rodrigues de Freitas fell about 131 feet after she was allegedly launched from the bridge without a safety cord attached.
Video of the incident shared online appeared to show two men lifting Rodrigues de Freitas and tossing her from the bridge as onlookers realized she was not attached to a safety rope and shouted, “Guys, the rope!”
Ponte do Esqueleto
Credit: Limeira City Hall
The AP reported that Rodrigues de Freitas had hoped to become a physical education teacher and had asked to be launched “airplane style,” with instructors lifting her above their shoulders as she spread her arms.
Six people were questioned in connection with the incident, though only the three instructors remained in custody, according to the AP.
Levy also said the group operating the jump was not authorized to be there.
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“It was a team there that wasn’t regulated; they didn’t even have authorization to be there,” Levy told local outlet G1, according to the AP.
Per earlier PEOPLE reporting, Rodrigues de Freitas shared a photo from the site on Instagram shortly before the jump, writing, “Who was the crazy person who let me come jump off a bridge???”
Rodrigues de Freitas was buried on June 15, the AP reported.
Read the original article on People
