ST. CLAIR TWP. - A 22-year-old Hamilton man convicted last year of stealing copper wire from utility poles was electrocuted on a utility pole Monday, authorities said.
The Butler County Sheriff's Office said Brandon Reed was attempting to steal copper wire from the pole when he was hit by the electric current. Reed's body was discovered about 25 feet up the pole. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"He had spikes like a lineman from the utility company," Butler County Coroner Dr. Richard P. Burkhardt said. "Unfortunately, that was his downfall."
Marks on Reed's body indicate that the current entered Reed's left hand and exited through the sole of his shoe, Burkhardt said.
An autopsy confirmed the cause of death as "accidental electrocution."
Reed's body was found shortly after the sheriff's office received a 911 call at 2:52 a.m. A man said that while driving on U.S. 127, just outside the village of New Miami, he heard a loud bang and a person scream.
The sheriff's office said it determined that the caller, Josh Snyder, 24, drove Reed to the utility pole and was going to return for him once he had stolen the copper. Snyder was charged with complicity to attempted theft and held at the Butler County jail.
Reed also was due in court in September on charges that he used a deputy's uniform to get into two homes in Hamilton to steal the prescription drug OxyContin, a powerful painkiller.
Reed was convicted of stealing copper wire last year, Hamilton police records show.
Reed was arrested in August on charges that he stole 2,200 feet of copper wire from utility poles on North Third Street. He was placed on probation.
Reed's death is the second in the area in which a man was attempting to steal metal, which is sold as scrap, police said.
David Mossman, 25, died July 12, 2006, when he touched a live wire while attempting to steal sheet metal from a large air-conditioning unit in Westwood, Cincinnati police said.
Reporter Janice Morse contributed.
3 comments:
I love the quote..." the spiked shoes were his downfall" !!
I want to hear his "facebook" groupies go on about what a great person he "WAS".
I put his name as a tag, but I think this was probably old news by the time I put it up
I believe that a company should pay a hazardous bonus when buying copper. I mean really, where are people getting all this copper?!? As if they didn't know it was stolen?!? And what better way to steel copper...climb a pole and tap into live wire...yea, the gene pool will miss this guy!
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