07:40 AM CDT on Wednesday, June 2, 2004
Associated Press
CLARKSVILLE, Ind. - A 22-year-old man who climbed an electrical tower survived a 69,000-volt shock, a jolt that's nearly always fatal, utility officials said.
Jason Grisham was in fair condition Tuesday in a hospital burn unit.
Police and a Cinergy/PSI employee found Grisham asking for help as he emerged Sunday from behind a building at a substation where the tower was scaled. Grisham "appeared to have extensive burn marks on his chest and his pants appeared to have exploded," police said.
Grisham scaled the fence around the tower about 6:30 a.m. and then started to climb the tower itself, rising 12 to 15 feet before he "received a dose of ... electricity and was knocked to the ground," said police, who were seeking a toxicology report.
"Contact with that level of voltage is almost always fatal," Cinergy/PSI spokeswoman Angeline Protegere said. She noted that household voltage is mostly 120 volts.
Protegere said the shock disrupted power to 6,800 customers. The fence Grisham climbed is 7 feet tall and has three strands of barbed wire on top of it.
Protegere said that to the left and right of the spot where he climbed over are "clearly visible signs" saying "Danger/High Voltage."
