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Suspected copper thief severely burned on Dallas utility pole dies

02:15 PM CDT on Monday, August 4, 2008

By EMILY TSAO / The Dallas Morning News etsao@dallasnews.com

A suspected copper thief whose flesh melded on a utility pole after he was hit with about 7,000 volts has died.

James Buster McKay, 51, died at about 11 p.m. Saturday at Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Dallas County medical examiner's office confirmed today. He had been listed in critical condition. A Dallas Fire-Rescue official said Mr. McKay had suffered third-degree burns and was burned on about 50 percent of his body.

Dallas police said they were notified about 4:30 a.m. Friday that a man was stuck on a utility pole in the 800 block of Regal Row near the Irving border. Police said Oncor was also notified about an outage in the area and at 5:17 a.m. restored power. The man may have grabbed a wire when power was being restored, Dallas police said.

When crews arrived, they found cut wires on the ground and Mr. McKay stuck between transformers on the pole, police said.

Dallas Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Sherrie Lopez said the man had been hit with about 7,000 volts, possibly twice. The rescue was hindered because his flesh had adhered to the metal components on the pole. Much of his clothing had either "burned off or blown off," she said.

Crews reached Mr. McKay using a ladder from a fire truck and he was lowered shortly before 7 a.m. and taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

Police said the incident caused more than $10,000 in damage. Oncor said investigators found about $50 worth of copper on the ground.

Submitted on 11/04/2008

Submitted by: Anonymous
Reference: Dallas Morning News, 08/04/2008

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Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
Yet another in the never-ending line of dumb copper thief crook wannabe's. Thanks!

Candi said:
Definitely Keep: For Darwin's Eyes
More mooching morons cooking on copper. Thanks.

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