Posted on 07/10/2017 11:11:01 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A 14-year-old girl from Lubbock died early Sunday morning after being electrocuted in a bathtub.
Madison Coe's mother and grandmother tell us she was in the bathtub, and either plugged her phone in or simply grabbed her phone that was already plugged in. It happened at her father's house in Lovington, NM.
Madison just graduated 8th grade from Terra Vista Middle School in Frenship ISD.
"It is with heavy hearts that Frenship ISD mourns the loss of Madison Coe. We wish to share our heartfelt sympathy with her family and friends as we carry the burden of this tragedy together," officials with FISD said.
Madison was expected to attend high school in Houston, as her family was in the process of moving.
“I call her my shining star," her grandmother, Donna O'Guinn, said.
Madison Coe was a 14 year-old, wise beyond her years.
“She was very smart. Very good student in school. She just loved life," O'Guinn said.
Madison had so much of her life ahead of her, as she made an impact on those around her with her positivity and kindness.
She was a basketball player and the number one chair with her tuba in the band at Terra Vista Middle School.
“She was just sweet to everybody and everybody loved her," O'Guinn said.
As O'Guinn fights back the tears, she says it is hard to understand why her granddaughter’s life was taken far too soon.
Her family says Madison was in the bath tub and grabbed her phone that was plugged into a charger in a bathroom outlet.
“There was a burn mark on her hand, the hand that would have grabbed the phone. And that was just very obvious that that’s what had happened," O'Guinn said.
Madison's family believes this terrible accident is something that could happen to anyone.
But now their mission is to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“This is such a tragedy that doesn’t need to happen to anyone else. And we want something good to come out of this as awareness of not using your cell phone in the bathroom as it is plugged in and charging," O'Guinn said.
The post about Coe on Facebook continues to be shared, opening up many eyes to the power of electricity, and the danger of plugging in any electrical appliance that isn’t water-proof, near water.
“It’s overwhelming to realize that there are people that we don’t even know and we’ll probably never even meet that have taken this message and shared it to protect another child or even an adult. We don’t want to lose anybody," O'Guinn said.
So as Madison’s family mourns her loss, they have hope that this message will resonate with anyone who hears it.
It’s the positivity she always carried with her, continuing to make a difference in the world.
“We need to be aware. We need to teach our children that electricity and water do not mix," O'Guinn said. "She’s just going to be greatly missed by all of us. She has a special place in my heart."
There will be a memorial service for Madison Coe on Saturday, July 15th, at 2:00 p.m. at Kings Ridge Church of Christ in Lubbock.
The address is 4201 98th Street.
You are most correct. Does the frequency control the “on” time of the switching transistor; especially if the frequency is a square wave? I think so. This would point to the malfunction which could have applied a lethal current to the wet girl. I suspect the controller IC caused the charger to send out a high voltage when something caused to create an abnormally long “on” time. You don’t want such a malfunction to happen in an wet environment.
Back to the subject. What was cause of the electrocution due to a circuit failure, a circuit design flaw causing the non-isolation from the line voltage input, or a matter of the wet girl getting that lethal 7 milliamps current from a charger that was putting out more than 1 amp?
There is another matter. It was said that the cell phone charger was connected to an extension cord in the bathroom. That extension cords could have been plugged into an outlet without a ground fault interrupter. It could have been been plugged in with the polarity of the input voltage reversed, causing a hot ground plane. She was hit with sufficient current to burn her hand from the accident. This should be a warning not to charge a cell phone in a wet area.
That’s incredible and so sad
Poor thing
I was in an old tile bathroom tub in gunnison colorado last summer and used my apple 6+ which was on a USB charge line while I was chest deep in tub
It tingled in my hand a bit but that was all
Again so sad.
“I remodeled my bathroom and put in a new outlet. There was no place to ground it so I ran a wire through the wall to a pipe going down into the ground, It hasn’t sizzled yet! My friend advised me; He is an electrical engineer but he also smokes a lot of pot, so I’m sorta dubious”
Ground rod would work, to provide a little safety as long as breaker box also has a ground rod, could also help with major overloads or shorts, possibly prevent fires.
A GFCI would protect PEOPLE. The GFCI breaker feeding the bath, or a GFCI outlet (wall receptacle has a little GFCI breaker in it) would be much preferable.
You are correct that peak to peak voltage would be 120v x 1.414 (170 V) to correct from RMS voltage. I agree that there would have to be some kind of fault in the charger to let line voltage get to the cell phone, but that should have fried the phone battery and probably the phone the first time it was plugged in.
I allowed that skin resistance is markedly lower when wet, but 5 V should not be enough to be fatal, a 9 V transistor battery won’t kill you if you handle it in water. You can stick it on your tongue, to see if it’s dead (if you are in a hurry, don’t have a VOM, and don’t mind a little tingle).
I just think that situation with the poor teenager is very suspicious. At the least, if it is an equipment problem, it needs to be solved, and chargers recalled, before some one else is killed.
Just an update.
It’s now been concluded that the charger was plugged in to a frayed extension cord. Apparently she grabbed/touched the 110v cord at the frayed area. The outlet was not GFCI.
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