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Darwin Awards
2007 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

Copper wire theft ends in death

2007 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

Fatal accident: Attempted theft ends in death

A man lost his life while trying to steal some B.C. Hydro copper wire in Aldergrove this weekend.

by Angela Wiebe

An attemted robbery was cut short late Sunday night as a man was electrocuted while trying to steal copper wire from an underground B.C. Hydro junction box in Aldergrove.

B.C. Hydro spokesperson Tarina Palmer said this was the first time that somebody has been killed trying to steal wires from the electric company.

"This is the first incident of its kind," she said.

Palmer confirmed that cases of stolen wire have been increasing fast in recent months.

"There's an increased demand for a variety of metals," she said.

The 35-year-old man from Surrey was found at about three in the morning on Monday by a B.C. Hydro worker who was responding to complaints of a power outage, said Langley RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Diane Blain.

Calls had come in late Sunday night about the lost power, Blain said, and it took B.C. Hydro workers a couple of hours to locate the source of the problem.

The body was found burned very badly in a junction box near the intersection of 273rd St. and Gloucester Way, in Gloucester Industrial Estates, Blain said.

Police said the man had been attempting to cut the copper wire out from the box and a live wire electrocuted him.

"He got the shock of his life - literally," Blain said, adding that the Surrey man is known to police and has a criminal record

Palmer said B.C. Hydro has been looking at ways to decrease wire thefts and is planning to implement changes such as increased security, raising fence heights surrounding the wires, increasing and enlarging signage displaying warnings, and also shifting to less valuable wires.

"There's a shift into lower valuable metals," Palmer said. "Theft costs organizations money and for a crown corporation like us, it costs the public and our customers money."

Palmer said the death was an "unfortunate reminder to the public about the danger" of coming into contact with B.C. Hydro wire.

"People who are thinking of cutting wire should consider that they could be hurt," Blain added. "It's really not worth dying for the small amount of money you get [from re-selling the metal]."

Blain said it's partly the demand from local businesses that is responsible for wire thefts.

"As long as there is a demand for this sort of good, there will be a supply," Blain said in a press release. "This basic principle drives individuals like this man to go to such extremes to get a product that he believed he could have easlily sold."

She cautioned local scrap metal dealers to be cautious about who they buy from, always ask for identification, and pay by cheque.

There have been many cases of wire theft in Langley in the last year, although no others have resulted in death.

published on 05/30/2006

Submitted on 04/24/2007

Submitted by: Bruce McLeod
Reference: http://www.langleyadvance.com/issues06/055106/news/055106nn11.html

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Chip said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
Death while attempting to steal copper wire is much, much too common these days to consider for an award. Seems to be the inept criminal's death of choice now with the price of copper so high. Thanks for sending us the story, Bruce


Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Too Common
As Chip said, these kinds of thefts/electrocutions are becoming way too common. Thanks for sending it though, Bruce.


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