FIRST ON 3: 17-year-old dead after falling from truck on Cape Fear Memorial Bridge

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — A teenager is dead after falling out of a truck bed on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Friday night.

Wilmington Police say the 17-year-old victim had been riding in the back of a pickup truck driven by his foster father, Jerry James Highsmith, 62, from Willard. Investigators say the victim had been attempting to secure a box spring and mattress in the bed of the pickup truck by laying on them.

When the truck reached the top of the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge just before 8:15 p.m. Friday, Highsmith said a gust of wind lifted both the mattress and box springs, with the victim, out of the bed of the pickup truck and onto the bridge span. The boy suffered fatal head trauma, but was not hit by any other vehicles.

Witnesses told investigators the truck was going well below the speed limit

Wilmington Police Department traffic investigators, after consulting with the New Hanover County District Attorney’s office, will not pursue any criminal charges, once the crash report is complete.