Suspected copper thief severely burned on utility pole in Dallas
10:05 AM CDT on Friday, August 1, 2008
By EMILY TSAO / The Dallas Morning News
A man who may have been trying to steal copper wiring was severely burned on top of a utility pole this morning, Dallas Fire-Rescue said. His rescue was hindered because his flesh had melded with the metal on the pole.
ROBERT FLAGG / WFAA-TV
Dallas Fire-Rescue spokeswoman Sherrie Lopez said the man had been hit with 7,620 volts, possibly twice. A Dallas Fire-Rescue dispatcher said a passerby called about 5:30 a.m. to report that a man was on top of a utility pole and that wires were sparking above in the 800 block of Regal Row near the Irving border. Police said there had also been reports of power outages in the area.
When crews arrived, they found a person, who was burning, 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 of the man was hindered because his flesh had adhered to the metal components on the pole. Much of his clothes had either "burned off or blown off," she said.
800 block of Regal Row in Dallas Crews were able to reach the man using a ladder from a fire truck and he was lowered shortly before 7 a.m. and taken to Parkland Memorial Hospital. He suffered third-degree burns and was burned on about 50 percent of his body, Ms. Lopez said.
"There is no amount of copper that is worth the pain this man is going to have to endure," she said.
Oncor confirmed that the man was not an employee or a contractor for the company.
Copper thefts have been a pervasive problem throughout North Texas as the price of copper attracts those looking to make a quick buck. Thieves steal copper from a number of items, including street lights, air-conditioning units and electrical transformers, and trade in the valuable metal for cash at recycling businesses.
The thefts have affected businesses large and small. Oncor says the company suffered about $1 million in losses from such thefts last year.
Some local business owners have taken to sleeping at their stores and guarding their rooftops to prevent such thefts. In July, a business owner's son fatally shot a man on the roof of Bargain Town Variety & Furniture store in Garland. Police said thieves had targeted the store twice in two days before the shooting. During one incident about $6,000 worth of copper was stolen from the air-conditioning units
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Motorcyclist clocked at 136 mph on Highway 11-W in Hawkins County
Published 07/07/2008 By Jeff Bobo
MOORESBURG — Yet another motorcyclist has been charged with speeding in Hawkins County — this time at 136 mph in the Mooresburg community on Highway 11-W in the far western section of the county.
The driver, Matthew James Snyder, 19, 3805 Shandee Lane, Morristown, allegedly offered the arresting officer an excuse, albeit not legally viable, for his excessive speed.
Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Billy Collier was patrolling Highway 11-W in the westbound lane Sunday around 7:45 p.m. when he observed several motorcycles approaching him in the eastbound lane.
Collier told the Times-News on Monday the lead motorcycle, a 2004 Honda driven by Snyder, was clocked on his radar at 136 mph, although Snyder apparently tried to slow down when the patrol car came into view.
Collier said he turned on his blue lights immediately and then observed the motorcycle accelerate again.
“There was about eight or nine motorcycles, but you could tell this one was going way too fast,” Collier said. “I verified his speed at 136 mph, and he initially started to slow, and then I noticed on the rear radar that he got on it and took off. I noticed him turn off on a road which I knew was a dead end road, and I found him hiding behind a church.”
Snyder was arrested near the Lakeview Boat Access on Quarryville Cemetery Road at the Lakeview Missionary Baptist Church. He was charged with reckless driving, misdemeanor evading arrest, registration violation, failure to show proof of insurance and no motorcycle operator’s license.
Collier said none of Snyder’s companion motorcyclists were speeding. Snyder allegedly told the officer he initially accelerated to get away from a car that was giving him trouble on the highway, and that just happened to occur when the trooper came into view.
“His story matched some of the other guys who were with him,” Collier said. “He was having some sort of problem with a car and he claims he was speeding up to get away from the car. Of course, I recommended that he should have stopped.
“But that’s the reason he said he accelerated like he did, and he said he ran because he got nervous.”
Collier noted that it’s not uncommon to find motorcycles on area roadways traveling at excessive speeds.
He said what surprises him is that there hasn’t been a serious accident, especially with the pursuits which have taken place recently.
In just the past two months in Hawkins County several motorcyclists have been arrested at speeds in excess of 100 mph, including a Rogersville man last month allegedly clocked at 176 mph.
“What’s really uncommon is the number who have been caught recently without incident,” Collier said. “Nobody has wrecked or been injured. At 136 mph if anything happens, even if you’re wearing riding leathers, which this individual wasn’t, your chance of survival is very slim.
“A squirrel in the road, gravel, it doesn’t take much at all to lose control at that speed, and when that happens it’s generally fatal. Common sense on a motorcycle will go a long ways.”
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Video Report - Talladega wannabe accused of doing 176 mph on Highway 11-W
Published 06/23/2008 By Jeff Bobo
Rogersville officer Travis Fields inspects the 2003 Yamaha seized Sunday from Rusty Shane Webb, who allegedly hit 176 mph on Highway 11-W. Photo by Jeff Bobo.
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ROGERSVILLE — Hitting 176 mph on a motorcycle might be about average for the road course at Talladega Superspeedway, but it’s quite extreme for Highway 11-W in Rogersville.
Early Sunday morning, Rogersville police arrested Rusty Shane Webb, 26, 114 Lipe Lane, Rogersville, for allegedly hitting 176 mph while fleeing an attempted traffic stop.
Arresting Officer Travis Fields told the Times-News Monday he clocked Webb at 135 mph during a high-speed pursuit before losing contact.
After his arrest, however, Webb allegedly admitted to hitting 176 mph on a 2003 Yamaha. Webb also told police he’d built to race on the Talladega, Ala., road course next month.
Webb’s racing plans have been derailed, as the motorcycle has been impounded — and if Rogersville police have their way, will be seized permanently. If Webb had put a bit more gasoline in the tank, however, he’d probably still have his racer.
Fields said Monday that motorcycle racing on Highway 11-W is becoming a big problem in Rogersville, as it is in other parts of the county. Young adults and juveniles congregate in parking lots at Park Boulevard, and when they think there aren’t any police around, motorcyclists race on 11-W between the Park Boulevard and Route 70 intersections.
“It becoming a spectator sport, and they’ve got a big crowd of kids and young adults hanging out there,” Fields said. “Somebody has a scanner in the parking lot and is apparently tipping the racers off to our whereabouts. When they think we’re not around they get out on the four-lane and race.
“We started realizing they know where we’re at, so now we’re using different frequencies and taking steps to better conceal our whereabouts.”
Around 1 a.m. Sunday, Fields decided to approach the Park Boulevard intersection from the east in hopes of catching some racers. Fields said he observed an orange Yamaha popping a wheelie in the eastbound lane.
“As his front wheel touched the road I clocked him at 81 mph in a 55 mph zone, so I turned right on him, hit the blue lights and started to pursue him,” Fields said. “I could hear him accelerate, and I knew he wasn’t going to stop. Mount Carmel (police) happened to be taking someone to jail and topped a hill right before you get to Route 70 and clocked him at 134 mph.
“I was coming down the hill at Metro (Auto Group), and I was doing right at 135 mph, and he was running off and leaving me pretty good, so he had to be doing between 150 and 170 right there.”
Fields lost the motorcycle as it approached Surgoinsville. He found out later that the bike ran out of gas near the Surgoinsville Market at the Carters Valley Road intersection.
A short time later a resident of the nearby Whispering Oaks subdivision called 911 to report a suspicious person walking in the road. When Surgoinsville police arrived they found Webb hiding in the weeds near the road.
Police found the motorcycle hidden in weeds not far away.
“I kept a visual on him right until he topped the hill at the Surgoinsville Market,” Fields said. “I was still a good way behind him, and when I topped the hill at the same location he was gone. (After Webb’s arrest) he told me that right before he got to Surgoinsville Market the bike started sputtering, his low on fuel light was on, and he knew he ran out of gas.
“That’s the only reason he stopped. If he had gas I’d have probably never seen him again.”
Webb was charged with felony evading arrest, no insurance and speeding 176 mph in a 55 mph zone. The 176 mph charge was based on Webb’s own comments.
“He pretty much admitted to everything,” Fields said. “He said he’s got a digital readout on his motorcycle, and he said he looked down at it and it read 176 mph. He had to be doing close to that because when I was doing 135 he was running off and leaving me.
“He said he built that bike to race and he was going to Talladega next month, and this was the first time he’d had it out on the road since he built it.”
Fields said he will confer with the attorney general’s office, but he intends to pursue permanent seizure of the bike. Webb was released from the Hawkins County Jail on $5,000 bond and is scheduled for arraignment on July 9
Seriously, 'Road Closed': Man watches helplessly as train squashes truck
By Associated Press
BELLEFONTE, Pa. -- Nathan Miller learned the hard way that "Road Closed" signs are posted for a reason. The 25-year-old Milesburg man ventured onto a closed road Sunday afternoon in search of good fishing at Bald Eagle State Park, but got his pickup truck stranded on some railroad tracks.
After trying for 45 minutes to dislodge the truck, Miller said he could do nothing but step back and watch a Norfolk Southern train smash into it.
"I backed up a little bit and watched the show," he said. "It looked just like TV but louder."
Signs clearly stated the road was closed, but Miller said he decided to "give it a shot" after hearing about the fishing spot. He has no intentions of going back.
"I was an idiot," Miller said. "Pretty much a local idiot just trying to go fishing."
Police cited Miller for trespassing.
Neighbors could hear the train screeching its brakes for some time before the crash, and state police said no one was hurt.
__________________ Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports... the rest are just games........ Earnest Hemmingway
No honor among thieves: Alleged pickup thief loses truck to carjacker
By Associated Press
SALINAS, Calif. -- A pickup truck thief lost his purloined Chevy Silverado to an armed carjacker during a 7-Eleven stop. Police Cmdr. Kelly McMillin said "you couldn't make up something stranger than this."
A 33-year-old man told police he stole the pickup Saturday then, while sitting outside a convenience store, a man with a gun hopped in and ordered him to start driving.
The pickup ran out of gas and the gunman ordered him to get out and push, but the man managed to run away and call police.
Police spotted the pickup on Sunday and the gunman was arrested after a brief chase and crash.
__________________ Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports... the rest are just games........ Earnest Hemmingway
Ohio woman bills Michigan $16 for work zone delay
By Associated Press
PERRYSBURG, Ohio -- An Ohio woman has sent Michigan transportation officials a bill for the $16 she says she wasted on gasoline sitting in construction zone traffic. Carol Greenberg complained there were no signs warning about the work on southbound Interstate 275 where it merges with I-75 near Newport, Michigan, about 27 miles north of Toledo.
So, she said she got stuck idling for about 50 minutes on July 23 while trying to get home to the Toledo suburbs with her cat after a visit to a specialty veterinarian outside Detroit. She said her Maine coon cat, Sammy, didn't like the delay either and howled the entire time.
In a response letter, the Michigan Department of Transportation says it's not able to reimburse drivers for time, wages, or gas lost in work zone back-ups.
__________________ Auto racing, bull fighting and mountain climbing are the only real sports... the rest are just games........ Earnest Hemmingway
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