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DES MOINES, Iowa -- A Des Moines remains in serious condition after falling through a hole in a city bridge.
The man fell 30 feet to the concrete below the Southwest Ninth Bridge just north of the Raccoon River.
Now the city plans to investigate what happened.
Police said that 22-year-old Timothy Delong and his 22-year-old friend Michael Fatino were walking across the bridge just before 4 a.m. Tuesday when they approached the median. Police said Delong neared a barricade and somehow fell through a small hole that the barricade was covering. Fatino told police that at first he didn't know where Delong had gone, until he looked through the hole and found him below the bridge. Fatino went to Delong and said he found him conscious, but unable to speak.
Police said Fatino told them that he and Delong had been out drinking earlier in the evening, but hadn't consumed any alcohol for about two hours.
"We don't know why he fell through there," said Des Moines Police Sgt. David Coy. "There was a barricade in the median and he stepped close to the barricade and fell through the bridge."
Officials said that there's usually a grate that covers that hole in the bridge.
"It's dark out at 3 in the morning and it's very possible that he just missed what the barricade was there for and fell through," McCoy said.
City engineer Jeb Brewer said they will be looking into why the grate is missing. He said utility companies sometimes have to remove the grates to get to different utility lines, but he's not sure if that's what happened in this case.
He said he will be sending someone out to see if there needs to be more barricades in place.
There is no word on the extent of the man's injuries.
Police said the city will take a look at the bridge Tuesday to make sure the hole is sufficiently covered up.
Delong remains at Iowa Methodist Medical Center.
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