Michael Spooner, 27, who survived the collapse of the 35W Bridge in Minnesota, has been sentenced to 7½ in jail for child abuse. The Wisconsin man and his fiancée, Crystal Manning, had been traveling on the bridge to see Manning’s two-year-old daughter, Emma, hospitalized after what prosecutors said was a pattern of beatings by Spooner that left her blind and unable to sit, walk, or eat on her own.

After the bridge collapsed, Spooner and Manning swam to safety. At sentencing, Judge Scott Needham said, “While we can fix bridges, we cannot unfortunately in this case fix a life that has been irreparably and permanently damaged.”

Spooner first claimed Emma had fallen down some stairs, and later said she was thrown off the back of an ATV. The girl’s mother sided with Spooner. “I believe Michael wholeheatedly,” Manning told the judge. “He is not the monster he is made out to be.”

KARE-TV reports on this sad case with no winners.