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Man electrocuted by urinating on power line

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I hate it when facts get in the way of a good story:

MONTESANO, Wash. —
The Grays Harbor County sheriff's office says autopsy results show that an Elma man who was killed by touching a downed power line was electrocuted through his hand and not through his urine stream as first suspected.

Chief Deputy Dave Pimentel said the results Wednesday showed 50-year-old Roy Messenger touched the wire with his left hand and the current shot through his body to his feet.

Pimentel said Thursday that Messenger may have been urinating at the time but it had nothing to do with his death.

Messenger had collided with a power pole Friday night, knocking down the wire, and had called relatives to help pull is car out of the ditch.

When relatives found him dead it appeared that he had urinated on the downed wire.
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AP from the Seattle Times
 
Jump to about 2:40 if you're in a hurry.

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I know we should all be skeptical and stuff, and I know posting the actual story is supposed to be good for us and all but...I really wanted to believe in death by urination.

Thanks for bursting my little doe eyed believer bubble. :^(
 
I never thought that story was funny since someone actually died. Plus, I was very suspicious of the idea that the stream would be continuous from the wire all the way back to the body.
 
Brian Now said:
I never thought that story was funny since someone actually died.
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You can't allow natural processes to dampen your sense of humor. If you can't laugh in the face of death, you'll never get the big punch-line.

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Brian Now said:
I never thought that story was funny since someone actually died. Plus, I was very suspicious of the idea that the stream would be continuous from the wire all the way back to the body.
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Oh cmon.

You know the actual true story is almost more humorous, of course in a macabre way. Guy survives an accident. Then is stupid enough to grab (shouldn't have even gone near) a downed wire. Add some character buildup, dialogue and drag it out and you have a perfect Tales from the Crypt, Night Gallery, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc...

I mean, I know someone died, but it's the irony of the whole thing that is funny - the oddity.
 
Well, then, your suspicions have been confirmed. However, you CAN get a shock via 'water.' My wife once threw a bucket of water over an electric fence and was shocked by it. Electric fences don't have enough current/voltage to kill you; it's a deterrent for animals, after all. But jack up the voltage and current to the levels of a electrtic line on a telephone pole and it might be a different story. I don't have much sympathy for the guy. He was drunk and driving and couldn't manage to keep his car on the road. Luckily he didn't take someone else out with him. As it is, he deserves a Darwin Award for taking himself out of the gene pool.
 
Schuyler said:
But jack up the voltage and current to the levels of a electrtic line on a telephone pole and it might be a different story. .
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I know that story all too well. I used to manufacture assistive devices for amputees. About half of them were due to electrical accidents.
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skunkape said:
Jump to about 2:40 if you're in a hurry.

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wow, that "don't wiz on the electric fence" jingle is what popped into my head immediately after reading the headline. I used to watch that show all the time. I'll probably be talking like Sven for the rest of the week now. haha! I still remember all the words to the log song and the muddy mudd skipper jingle. Looking back, that show was completely messed up for kids to be watching, but thats probably why I loved it so much.
 
Here's the first half of this absurd masterpiece. The facial expressions leave me in stitches.
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