Would-Be Copper Thief ‘Extremely Grave’ After He’s Shocked And Catches On Fire

[Bud in WV]

From Drudge Report 5/6/12

Anyone care to speculate on how expensive the medical bills will be and who'll be stuck paying them? Hint - it probably ain't gonna be the thief or his family.....


hXXp://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/05/05/would-be-copper-thief-extremely-grave-after-hes-shocked-and-catches-on-fire/

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.

[Garryowen]

Terrible for the man who was burned. Too bad he thought he was entitled to steal someone else's stuff. He wouldn't be in that fix otherwise.

[LittleJohn]

Damn.

Not to be insensitive or anything, but enough voltage to MAKE YOU CATCH ON FIRE is pretty impressive.


LittleJohn

[Publius]

If the burns are to extensive he may not live to much longer.

[LittleJohn]

If the burns are to extensive he may not live to much longer.

Yep..."Witnesses said he was so badly burned there was no way for him to be identified" isn't very promising.


LittleJohn

[Satanta]

Sucked to be him.

[Last Resort]

What's that old saying about the wages of sin?

Looking...looking...nope, can't find a bit of sympathy for the thief. He must have hit only one live wire; if he'd crossed two phases, he would have gone up really fast. I did wince at the description, though; slow electrocution must be one of the worst ways to go.

[Coulter]

Terrible for the man who was burned. Too bad he thought he was entitled to steal someone else's stuff. He wouldn't be in that fix otherwise.

Why do you feel it is terrible for the man who was burned?

I feel it is terrible for him to be in the hospital if he is not paying for it.

[Elza]

Darwin to the rescue.

[Palmetto]

This has happened in this country more times than I can recall.

This site has a video montage of photos of those who failed.

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC Do not click on the link unless you have an iron stomach.

http://www.rtbot.net/play.php?id=Y8mJ0q_mtQ0

[energy_wave]

[Countrymouse]

omg, they don't even look human, most of them---just charred hunks of charcoal on the ground........

[Satanta]

Thing is-with this economy, some of them are simply desperate. Not an excuse for the theft [[or attempted thefts]] but people in a bad way-especially those who have not adjusted and keep finding doors closed to them, do desperate things they might not do otherwise.

[Ramius]

Voltages that high behave in weird ways. You don't have to touch anything, get close enough and it jumps over to you. And you get something called 'skin effect' (related to the electricity, not the person's skin) that causes the majority of the current to stay near the outside (skin) of the 'conductor' which in this case was the thief. Probably the only reason he didn't die, the current was outside on the skin and not going through his innards. That's why the electric chair only uses about 2,000 volts. They want the current to go through the organs, etc.

Any way you look at it, a horrible way to go. I'm not going to pass judgement on him, but I rather imagine he'll give up playing with electricity if he lives.

[Scotto]

He's most likely cooked on the inside as on the outside. Not conducive to life.

[undead]

best if he dies as quickly as possible

[Frugal Bob]

Well all I can say is that this thread is... smokin.

[imaginative]

"Witnesses said he was so badly burned there was no way for him to be identified."


"Police are trying to locate his family".

I have to imagine that its kinda tough to locate the family of someone who cant be identified.

[China Connection]

It probably won't be that long before many will be forced to steal or die. I hate the people who have brought the current situation about. They are much worse than common thieves.

[Timber]

200 inches Flash Hazard Bounty
No PPE Exist
I'll bet he wasn’t wearing 70e cotton underwear

[rhughe13]

Not to mention he probably consumed a $100 worth of electricity.

[byronandkathy2003]

just call him sparky

[Dex]

Too many thieves, not enough voltage. Screw em, they get what they deserve. Its just a shame that the hard core murderers aren't getting the same more often.

[Satanta]

It probably won't be that long before many will be forced to steal or die. I hate the people who have brought the current situation about. They are much worse than common thieves.

That's the truth.

[ARMY RANGER]

He will certainly die but depending how bad he is it may take awhile.Infection is what usually kills a burn victim!Obama says the recovery is coming along nicely so they won't have to steal copper much longer!! LOL

[bad_karma00]

That's too bad. SOrry to hear it. We obviously need to make an effort to get these guys organized, and into the Union! They need safer working conditions.

[Bud in WV]

I really wasn't exactly sure how that article would be received when I posted it here.....I'm glad to see that my fellow TB2Kers also subscribe my favorite theory on sympathy - It's in the dictionary...right between $hit & syphilis!

[blueridge]

Thought that only squirrels learned that trick.



It's easy to sympathize with anyone that finds themselves in such circumstances due to an 'honest' ACCIDENT - but NOT when it's completely caused
by their own actions based on criminal intent.