EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — ABC6 News Legal Analyst Kenneth Schreiber weighed in on why he thinks the demolition of the Washington Bridge is being put on pause. The Rhode Island Attorney General’s Office said the demolition of the westbound span of the bridge is on pause to “preserve evidence” in the state’s lawsuit over the bridge’s failure. Schreiber said although confusing, it’s probably the right move to press pause. “If they break the thing down, now the evidence is gone, that’s called spoliation. It’s gone and you can’t manufacture it again,” said Schreiber. “In order for there to be the best opportunity to win a lawsuit, you need all the evidence, you don’t want to go in and say ‘well we don’t have this anymore because the bridge was demolished’ so, I think it’s in the state’s best interest, it’s in the people in the state of Rhode Island’s best interested that this evidence be preserved.” A major question still left unanswered is why RIDOT started demolition work last week before getting the necessary evidence. On that front, Schreiber said there need to be more questions answered by Governor McKee and RIDOT Director Alviti. “There’s a lot of things we don’t know in this situation and I think that transparency is something that not only the public is looking for but also anyone who travels over that bridge is looking for,” said Schreiber. ABC6 News reached out to Gov. McKee’s office Wednesday to ask why the demolition work started to begin with and we were given the same statement as Tuesday. Another oddity in all of this, Aetna Bridge Company is working on the demolition and is also named in the lawsuit, but Schreiber said that doesn’t exactly disqualify them from the job. “It’s not necessarily a conflict of interest but but it does raise a red flag when you’re literally suing one entity and that same entity is doing work for you that you’re relying on,” explained Schreiber. East Providence Mayor Bob DaSilva told ABC6 News Wednesday that he hopes to see a new bridge in place as soon as possible, but there is still no word on how long this demolition pause will last. Categories: News