Posted on 11/16/2011 12:05:28 AM PST by Huntress
Christian County Sheriff Joey Kyle said investigators found the charred remains of a human ear when responding to reports of vandalism at a White River Cooperative Electric substation in Spokane Nov. 15.
“We found damage to the facility,” Kyle said. “We found a knit cap that was singed and a piece of charred remains that looks like an ear. Once we figured someone got zapped we started calling around to the hospitals. Sure enough we found a burn victim at St. Johns.”
Kyle said there was obviously more than one person involved.
“I would imagine more than one,” he said. “They cut through a fence...zapped the one guy.”
He said White River officials are reviewing the equipment and if the transformer is damaged beyond repair, the costs could be high.
“If the transformer is damaged, you’re talking about $1 million worth of damage,” Kyle.
Kyle said thieves are after the copper, aluminum and gold found in wiring, but it is a high-risk criminal activity.
“They try to steal the ground wires,” he said. “Stuff they don’t think is hot.”
However, Kyle said, this time the thieves underestimated the “threshold of electricity’s arcing capabilities.”
“It is downright stupid is what it is,” he said.
At the time of this report, Sheriff Department investigators were en route to St. Johns Hospital, Springfield ,to determine whether the missing ear belonged to the victim.
“They are on the way,” he said. “If he is still alive, he probably has life-threatening injuries.”
Diana Bradford, marketing coordinator with White River Cooperative Electric, confirmed early morning news reports that the Spokane substation was vandalized by copper thieves at about 1:30 a.m. The incident caused power outages to a portion of its customers in Christian County.
By 8:30 a.m. power was restored and the company reported no further outages.
“They did a lot of cutting, burning and destroying,” Bradford said. “And left a lot of damage.”
Bradford could provide no more details from the company at the time.
Hey doc - I have this ringing in my ear.
No you don’t
Of course I do - I can HEAR it.
No, I mean you don’t have an ear.
Van go - meet Darwin
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.