They Tried to Jump the Bridge. They Didn't Make It

It's not really clear what was going through the heads of these two men from Texas this week, because they didn't live to tell the tale. It seems evident, however, that they made a fatal misjudgment. NBC News and the New York Post report that around 2am Friday, Alejandro Cazares, 23, and 32-year-old Roberto Alejandro drove up in a 2016 Chevrolet Cruze to the Black Bayou Bridge outside of Lake Charles, La., and saw that the drawbridge was up to let a boat pass underneath. Witnesses say one of the men got out of the car and lifted the gate arm up, and then when he was back inside the vehicle, the driver backed the car up, then slammed his foot on the gas to try to jump the gap.

That's when the vehicle went "airborne," the Louisiana State Police say in a Facebook post. The car ended up in the water, and when police and other rescuers responded to a call about the crash, the driver was found still inside the submerged car. The passenger managed to escape the vehicle but didn't make it out of the water. Both men were pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities are running toxicology tests on both men. KPLC notes that a man tried to jump the same bridge during a 2016 police chase; his car landed on a pontoon boat underneath. (A New Jersey man says he'll never cross one particular bridge again after his frightening experience.)