Man Killed, Buddy Electrocuted While Trying To Steal Power Line

[matcom]

<snip>

FIFE - One man was killed and another hospitalized after being electrocuted early Friday morning while trying to steal a power cable, Fife police said.

Sgt. Tony Budzius said the two men were likely hoping to sell parts of the cable as scrap metal.

The men were electrocuted about 1:30 a.m. when they threw a rope over the raised power line and tried to pull it down.

Budzius said the pair thought the line was a low-voltage wire, but it was actually a high-voltage line. "Roughly 12,500 volts," he said.

The electricity traveled down the rope, through the men and into the ground where it sparked a fire in the dry brush. Fife police officers responding to reports of a fire in the area found the two men in the bushes.

The officers performed CPR on one man but were unable to resuscitate him. The other man suffered electrical burns to his hands and feet and was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

The fire scorched about an acre of dry brush and Tacoma firefighters spent two hours extinguishing hot spots.

Budzius said the police department has received numerous reports of power cable thefts in the area where the men were found on 70th Avenue East. "People are scavenging the copper wire off the railroad property," he said.

http://www.komotv.com/stories/39084.htm

[miss_kitty]

1. Fife is a real brain trust

rife with mullets, skullets and Farrah-dos

[DS1]

2. Wait until they find the missing pieces of railroad track I just

melted down into cheap iron door wedges.

[Hugin]

5. You didn't happen to see the change I'd left there...

to sell as "good luck medallions"?

[Coventina]

3. Two words: Darwin award.

:hide:

[MN ChimpH8R]

8. Beat me to it

I mean, stealing a LIVE power cable??!!?? How friggin' dumb can you be? Even the Chimperor is smarter than that, which is saying something.

[Hugin]

4. Just when I thought I'd seen the ultimate stupidity...

Out pops yet another crowning achievement.

[GOPisEvil]

6. Quiet please: Geniuses at work

[NV Whino]

7. Yep. Darwin Awards.