Posted on 05/07/2012 9:33:00 AM PDT by grundle
SAN BERNARDINO (CBS) — A would-be copper thief was gravely injured early Saturday morning when he attempted to steal copper wiring from a live Edison vault, according to authorities.
Witnesses told CBS2 and KCAL9 reporter Melissa Maynarich that the man could be heard screaming in agony.
Jeff Grammatico was across the street from the substation when he said, “I heard a boom.” He added, “It made me jump from one side of the room to the other.”
He ran to the fence and saw a man burning alive. “It was scary. I was trying to cut the gate to get in. It was horrifying to watch him burn.”
Grammatico says he ran back to his home to get a fire extinguisher while another passerby called 911. “He kept standing and screaming, screaming, screaming. And I couldn’t get in. I had a fire extinguisher. But he wouldn’t come over. But he started to roll.”
Officials say the suspect is “extremely grave” and that it’s likely he was burned by 33,000 volts of electricity.
The incident occurred on the corner of Rialto and Stoddard about 2 a.m.
Southern California Edison said about 14,000 customers lost power. Service was fully restored by Saturday afternoon.
The man is described as a man in his 20s. Police have not released the man’s name. Witnesses said he was so badly burned there was no way for him to be identified. JR Velasquez said it was hard to witness the horror of the man burning. “It was something I really never seen n my life. Never happened to any animal or anybody.”
The man has not yet been charged with a crime. Police are trying to locate his family.
From the SB County Coroner.
Coroner case 701203296 VN: Back on Saturday morning, May 5, 2012, at about 2:00 AM, a man received electrical burn injuries while attempting to remove copper wiring from an electrical relay station on Stoddard Ave., just south of Rialto Ave., in the city of San Bernardino. Michael Morga Garcia, a 26 year old resident of San Bernardino, was transported by ambulance to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead Sunday evening, May 6th, at 8:32 PM. The incident is under investigation by San Bernardino Police Department. [05/06/12 2300 VN]
Did they check Meh-Hee-Co?
Exactly. They want the hospital to sue Edison for their expenses, instead of billing the city.
"I'm shocked ... shocked!"
in which G, the conductance, is 1/R, and V = 33kV, we get 1.089 MW into Mr. Copperman. Of course, that's assuming no line drop, and it's also assuming no increase in resistance over time due to the... ahem... loss of conductance that would occur as Mr. Copperman's bodily fluids ah... outgassed.
On the other hand, he may have been ingulfed by a huge arc, in which case the resistance would have been much lower, just a few ohms. In that circumstance, the power dissipated could have been much higher, many megawatts. It's hard to imagine how he could have been alive more than a few milliseconds though.
Well at least now his condition has “stabilized.”
Stick a fork in him, he’s cooked.
KISS, "Shock Me".
NOW its a happy ending!
I feel like I ought to apologize for laughing so hard at that. But I'm easily amused by current events.
“..The man has not yet been charged with a crime...”
Once they charge him they have to pay his medical bill.
Play Stupid Games, Win Stupid Prizes
-PJ
In MA they’ve started stealing street grates.
It would suck to step off the curb and drop into the sewer.
Call him “Shorty.”
I think it’s a reflection of the inevitability of his “condition.” It’s also a reflection of the poor quality of education in this country. I mean who’s unaware of the potential for electrocution in stealing copper wire?
Charged......and discharged!
Yeah, it's tough to see a favorible prognosis for massive third-degree burns, ruptured internal organs, and a couple pounds of molten copper vapor driven into the surface wounds.
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