A. A small road bridge.

Q. Where is it supposed to be on the show?

A. In Miami.

Q. When did we see it on the show?

A. In Episode 9 (of Season 1), "Father Knows Best".

Sgt. Doakes and Angel are driving along, and as they pass over a small bridge, Doakes spots a man walking calmly on the side of the road. Suddenly, Doakes jumps out of the car and starts chasing the man.  The man runs across the bridge (with Doakes in hot pursuit) and when he gets near the end of the low bridge, he jumps off the side onto the sand below, followed by Doakes.

Angel U-turns and hurries back after them, but as he's running down to the beach, he hears two gun shots. When he gets there, he finds the man lying dead in the sand under the bridge. Doakes claims to have shot him in self defense, after the man fired first.

But Angel later tells investigators that he heard Doakes' gun fire first, and it appears that Doakes planted a gun on the victim.

We learn that later that Doakes had a history of involvement in some kind of Black-Ops mission down in Haiti, and it's strongly implied that the man he shot was a member of the Haitian terrorist militia, the Tonton Macoute - but the mystery is left unresolved in Season 1.

Q. What is it actually in real life?

A. A road bridge - but not in Miami.

Q. Where can I find it in real life?

A. The bridge is the Appian Way bridge, in Long Beach, which connects Naples Island to the Belmont Shore mainland.

The bridge is an extension of the street named Appian Way, spanning the channel that separates Long Beach proper from Naples' Island. The bridge starts just southeast of Bay Shore Avenue (on the mainland) and ends just northwest of Sorrento Drive (on the island). The shooting scene was shot near Bayshore, on the mainland side (and on the bridge itself).

As the scene starts, we first see a female jogger running along a street, next to what looks like a marina.  That street is Bay Shore Avenue, and jogger is running east/southeast down the south side that street (approaching East Appian Way) - with boats docked in the channel to her right (south) side.

That narrow channel (about 300 feet wide at this point) separates the Long Beach mainland from Naples Island. You can see it in my photo below.


I shot the photo below in 2008, as a jogger runs down the same sidewalk on Bay Shore Ave., approaching the Appian Way bridge.




The camera then pans right (north) to show Angel & Doakes' car going the same direction (east/southeast) on Bay Shore. They reach Appian Way and Angel makes a right (southeast) onto the Appian Way bridge. They are about half way over the bridge when Doakes spots a man walking the opposite direction (northwest) on the other side of the bridge.

Doakes jumps out and the man runs across the bridge (northwest), back onto the Belmont Shore mainland.

When the man reaches the northwest end of the bridge, just before he reaches Bayshore Avenue, he jumps over the side, a few feet down onto the small patch of sandy beach north of the bridge. (During the chase, we catch glimpses of the homes on Naples Island, visible in the background behind the bridge.)

This is where Angel finds the man dead (and Doakes holding a gun) - just under the Appian Way bridge, on that small patch of beach northeast of the bridge, just a few yards southeast of Bayshore Ave.


In the photo below, which I shot in 2008, we're looking at the spot under the Appian Way bridge where Doakes shot the fleeing man.

Here is an aerial photo of the bridge.  And here is a map link.

( At the other end of the Appian Way bridge, you'll find another "Dexter" location: Cody's park swing set.
)

Q. How the heck did you figure out where it was?

A. This was an easy one. I've driven across the bridge before, and I simply recognized it. But to play it safe, I double checked to be sure, and shot the photos you see while I was at it.