No clattering utensils. No small talk. Heads slowly turned toward the television as the volume inside Latin American Bakery & Cafe in Sweetwater rose. There was breaking news. An announcer reported that the Florida International University pedestrian bridge over Southwest Eighth Street had collapsed. Six people were killed. Diners leaned closer to the screen, trying to make sense of what they were seeing.
Christine Domé, 50, sat speechless alongside her sister and father, who had driven under the bridge on their way to lunch just minutes before.
“It was one of those things where you were looking at it through the TV, and it just felt surreal,” said Domé, a success coach with FIU’s Fostering Panther Pride program. “You can’t believe you had just left moments ago, and now all this tragedy is happening.”…