Posted on 06/22/2018 1:27:34 PM PDT by Gamecock
A man was killed early Thursday morning in east Oklahoma City after being electrocuted while attempting to steal copper wire from a light pole, according to KWTV. The spike in copper prices in recent years has driven well known black market for the metal.
The National Insurance Crime Bureau reported that over a three year period there were 28,000 claims for theft of industrial metals -- 98% of which was copper. The trend has been attributed to copper's ease of access, as it is often unguarded in industrial air conditioning units, open construction sites, abandoned properties and public power utilities.
The NICB added that while there was a reported decline in these claims following a decline in copper prices and a nationwide effort to enact laws to combat this black market, prices have climbed back up, and the U.S. Department of Energy still estimates copper thieves are netting over $1 billion annually.
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, copper theft in Oklahoma is a felony for both thieves and recipients who knowingly purchase stolen materials, with one to five year prison sentences and $100 to $500 fines.
Research published in the American Economist noted that the impact of copper theft from public utilities can have massive impacts on the general public: in May 2015, the theft of 500 feet of copper disrupted rail service on a New York City train line serving 775,000 riders daily.
Paging Professor Darwin..
That’ll show him. Shouldn’t have anymore problems from him.
No one was more shocked than the thief.
_-———————————
An eye-popping experience.
It’s funny. I always ensure that I receive change. Just for this reason.
copper pennies have been mostly zinc (97.5%) since 1983
how about nickels
copper pennies have been mostly zinc (97.5%) since 1983
how about nickels
This is about as righteous as the copper thief in my old neighborhood who was stealing a central air unit off of a roof and it fell on him and killed him.
Then there were the tweakers who broke into my neighbors barn in Oklahoma and were trying to steal a high pressure cylinder of ammonia off of a fertilizer rig. They were using a hammer to try and loosen the fitting on the end of the bottle when they knocked the valve completely off. The cylinder flew off the rig like a bottle rocket. One of the thieves was standing up against the wall trying to escape the line of fire when it struck him in the crotch. The hospital personnel said it severed his penis, and his family jewels were mashed as flat as a pair of silver dollars.
Didn’t this happen near an Ohm Depot?
If he had survived his reVolting theft attempt, he should have been Arrested and Charged. If he Resisted, add assault and Battery. Give him maximum sentence, 40 years in a dry Cell. Well, if that’s Watt he’d have got, I’d be ex-static.
Hold muh beer. Daddys goin to work!
“Make it rain” at the strip clubs
It’s actually not a bad design. Assuming the Surge protector works. But hell no!
Here is how CBS posted this article on Twitter. Disgraceful. https://twitter.com/CBSNews/status/1010248094666063872
Bravo! That was puntastic!
They may be learning from this thread.
I guess he didn’t take into account that the wiring would be connected to a source of electricity. Someone should write “Stealing Copper Wire for Dummies.”
An electrifying story..........
Bzzzzzzzz
Sizzling
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