A 31-year-old Royal Oaks man was electrocuted at 8:42 p.m.
Tuesday while attempting to use a 30-foot metal pole to steal
high-voltage wire from Pacific Gas
&
amp; Electric lines hung along Betabel Road in the San Juan
Bautista area, according to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office,
which arrested another man on suspicion of manslaughter for the
incident.
HOLLISTER
A 31-year-old Royal Oaks man was electrocuted at 8:42 p.m. Tuesday while attempting to use a 30-foot metal pole to steal high-voltage wire from Pacific Gas & Electric lines hung along Betabel Road in the San Juan Bautista area, according to the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office, which arrested another man on suspicion of manslaughter for the incident.
Daniel Thompson Jr. and Richard Reynolds, a 19-year-old Salinas resident who was an acquaintance, drove a truck to a remote section of Betabel Road to attempt the crime, said Undersheriff Patrick Turturici.
“Reynolds claims he did not leave the truck at that point,” said Turturici, “and that Thompson walked off with a 30-foot pole to steal some power wire.”
Reynolds told authorities that a short time later, he witnessed a “big blue flash,” which caused him to run down to check on his acquaintance. He saw Thompson lying on the ground “moaning and mumbling something,” Turturici said. The coroner’s office reports that Thompson died within minutes of contacting the power lines.
Reynolds returned to the truck and drove where Thompson lay, he said. He attempted to get Thompson into the truck, but failed, Turturici said. He then drove back to Salinas where he went to a friend’s house, he said.
Reynolds’ friend called the matter to the attention of law enforcement around 3:30 a.m., but “made no mention of an injury or death,” said Turturici.
“He only reported the flash of blue light,” he said. “Deputies went to the area around 4 a.m. and did a check, but did not locate anything.”
At 10:21 a.m. the next day, Reynolds contacted Thompson’s wife and told her there had been an accident, the undersheriff continued.
“He then drove the wife out to the scene and they found Thompson dead.”
According to Turturici, the pair called law enforcement, who arrived and confirmed that Thompson was deceased. They placed Reynolds under arrest on suspicion of manslaughter, as a result of his not reporting the incident while there was a chance Thompson was alive. He also was arrested for being under the influence of methamphetamine.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has reported that Thompson was a “person of interest” in several agricultural thefts in that county, Turturici said.
PG&E spokeswoman Jana Morris said copper theft has become an increasingly common problem for her company and cautions that “a few dollars worth of copper is not worth anyone’s lives.”
“A person without training doesn’t realize that this is deadly,” she said. “When a person comes in contact with a live wire, there is always a negative consequence.”
She said people sometimes observe PG&E employees working on live wires and think they can do the same.
“Our people have extensive training over a long period of time, and a lot of safety equipment,” she said. “Working with live wire is a highly technical process, and everyone should always assume that every wire is live.”
