Two Dead After Trying to Jump a Raised Drawbridge

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana—Two men died early Friday when a driver tried to jump a car over an opening created by a pontoon swing bridge in southwestern Louisiana, state police said on Facebook.

Louisiana State police say it happened shortly after 2 a.m. at the Black Bayou Bridge on Louisiana Highway 384, about 6 miles south of Lake Charles.

Investigators say the bridge was closed to traffic to let a boat pass through on the Intracoastal Waterway. The 165-foot section of the bridge on pontoons had been moved to allow the ship to pass.

Witnesses say the car’s passenger pushed the gate arm up and they drove the 2016 Chevrolet Cruze up to the raised section.

They backed up, then accelerated forward, trying to jump to the other side. The vehicle landed in the water and sank.

State police say 23-year-old Alejandro Cazares of McAllen and 32-year-old Roberto Alejandro Moreno of Edinburg were pronounced dead at the scene.

Moreno still managed to get out of the car but died in the river.

Investigators are working to determine whether alcohol or drugs were a factor.

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Teen Speaks His First Word After Horrific Accident

One young teenage boy’s life almost came to a standstill after a horrific car accident left him with severe injuries—and doctors did not expect him to survive. But two years on, he has defied all odds and has made a miraculous recovery.

Jackson Gannon, from South Carolina, was an honors student and budding wrestler.

He was involved in a serious head-on car crash in June 2017 and suffered a traumatic brain injury according to Western Journal. Doctors gave him very little hope of surviving and said if he did manage to pull through, he would never walk or talk again. He spent a lengthy time in ICU, fighting off pneumonia and a staph infection, and with a blood clot and brain damage, his prognosis was poor. But this boy had faith and determination on his side and started to make a recovery.

Jackson was just beginning to learn to walk again when his story was aired on WBTV. A fishing group had been fundraising for special equipment for Gannon, and the story caught the eye of the CEO of Avora Health. She offered the free use of equipment called the GyroStim, designed to challenge the brain to create new neural pathways.

“One of the reasons that we did reach out was… the news story said that he’s not communicating verbally – and we have seen it in the clinic. We have seen that change in the GyroStim from training,” said Dr. Kim Fox from Avora Health. According to Avora Health Blog, Gannon spoke his first words after a GyroStim session.

Dr. Fox’s official stance on GyroStim and speech improvement is “We have seen patient speech improvements through the use of GyroStim, but do not specifically treat speech and do not claim to be Speech Therapists. The results are anecdotal to the underlying conditions (such as concussions) that we treat as vestibular rehabilitation experts.”

Twenty-one months later and Jackson was able to mouth his first words and walk on his own—something truly incredible and exciting.

Jackson’s family shared the video of him speaking for the first time since the accident on his Facebook page. “Jackson’s first words!!!!!” is the caption. “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!!!! Jackson is beginning to speak!!! #toGodbetheglory #hardworkpaysoff #happytears.”

“This was Jackson’s reaction to spreading hope across the nation!!” Jackson’s family shared after his speech video began to spread.

The family have a deep Christian faith and give credit to God for enabling their son to survive and continue to improve.

“I have complete faith the lord is going to restore my son back to 100 percent,” Jackson’s mother, Stasea Morris, told ABC News.

“We explained to him that his testimony has reached nearly 600k views. This was his dream before the car wreck and it is being fulfilled, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ and His miraculous restoration.”

Morris keeps followers updated with her son’s progress on Facebook.

With such a strong faith in the Divine, Jackson is sure to keep climbing obstacles. Faith can indeed move mountains.

Epoch Times reporter Chris Ford and The CNN Wire contributed to this article.