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"I AM A LOAD RESISTOR! MY LIFE IS DULL, THEN BRIEFLY EXCITING, THEN OVER!"
Posted on 01/07/2011 5:19:03 PM PST by csvset
The suspect, identified by police as 46-year-old Thomas Justice Freeman III, had been using bolt cutters in an attempt to snip though a live electrical wire in the 2500 block of Double Oaks Road, just off Statesville Avenue.
Freeman was pronounced dead at Carolinas Medical Center, where he was taken by two other men also suspected of attempting to steal copper wiring.
According to police, the three men met at Freeman’s home Wednesday evening and devised a plan to steal copper wire and split the proceeds after selling it. Freeman used his own 40-foot ladder and climbed about 30 feet up a utility pole. He received a shock while using a bolt cutter and fell to the ground.
Police said burn marks on his body were consistent with receiving an electric shock. His clothing also showed markings consistent with electric burns.
Officers investigating the crime scene found Freeman’s ladder still at the base of the utility pole. The copper wire showed marks of an unsuccessful attempt to cut it.
As of midday Thursday, police had not charged the remaining suspects, who stayed with Freeman at the hospital and were taken in for questioning.
Records kept by the Mecklenburg sheriff show that Freeman had been arrested at least three times in the county since 2008, all for minor infractions. His latest arrest was in April, 2010, for unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.
A lot of these electrical wire thieves think the wire lower on the pole is ground!It isn't!The upper wire is usually ground for lightning protection of the system.And standard voltages of 7200 or 13000 mean you don't even have to touch it before getting charged,it will jump or arc;you can see this at night with cracked insulators or poorly grounded pole hardware.Even if the thief get hold of only the 115 line ,the ampacity of the wire means he will get more amperage and is not protected by a ground-fault-interrupter as one would be in newer construction.
Main power 13,400 will blow the meat off your arm if you are near it.
"I AM A LOAD RESISTOR! MY LIFE IS DULL, THEN BRIEFLY EXCITING, THEN OVER!"
And he probably offered very little resistance. (sorry, couldn't help myself)
I don’t feel too sorry for the idiot.
One could say this was an attack on infrastructure, and to be sure if some innocent person relied on home medical equipment with one of these clowns trying to make a quick buck THEY’d be the one in deep “stuff”, even with backups.
Darwin has his due.
Famous last words were “ Hey, watch this!”
It was a play on his name and his condition.
The state didn't kill him, so why mention Saudi Arabia's laws ?
No, it was his own greed and stupidity coupled with electricity that brought about his demise.
These drink and drug addled amateur saboteurs are a blight and a detriment to society. The fact that they often do themselves in is a benefit to society.
If any law was applied here, I'd guess it was Ohm's law.
World’s most dangerous professions:
1. Active military
2. Police officer
3. Fire fighter
4. Copper thief...
You should be serving time in the pun-itentiary!
Hey, that’s just how I’m wired. I’m just amped up because today is my 40th birthday...
Needs to be more dangerous.
Happy Birthday! eh, enjoy da cake. ;o)
Excuse me, but horse thieves were promptly HUNG!
“...using bolt cutters in an attempt to snip though a live electrical wire...”
How drunk do you have to be to think *that* is a good idea?
For Freeman, it was.
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