On the morning of August 19, 1995, thirty-three-year-old Deletha Word was driving across a bridge in Detroit, Michigan on her way back from Belle Isle when her car hit the fender of a car driven by Martell Welch. In response, Welch and two of his friends pulled Word from her car, stripped her down to her panties, and beat her. Word jumped off the bridge to her death in the water below.

In Welch's trial, the defense focused on the fact that Welch did not actually throw Word off the bridge, and that Word had traces of PCP in her system, suggesting that Word might have thought she could fly when she jumped.

Welch was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16 to 40 years in prison.

The death of Deletha Word has been used as an example of the bystander effect, as a number of people crossing the bridge that morning were witnesses to her plight, yet none stopped to help her.