One for the Darwin Awards

[HopeHoops]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/10/24/california.copper.theft/index.html?hpt=T2

(CNN) -- One man was electrocuted and his female partner was severely burned after the couple attempted to steal copper wire from a vacant property in Southern California, police said.

"I believe they thought the power was off," said Lt. Keith Hupp of the South Gate Police Department.

"It was a pretty ugly scene," he added.

---

More at link.

[petronius]

1. Sounds pretty awful, but probably reasonably quick for the dead guy

My sense is that this kind of theft is on the rise, and these deaths aren't too uncommon...

[HopeHoops]

6. The theft is on the rise, but I'm not sure about the deaths. Yards here record license info.

Catalytic converter thefts are a major problem as well - just for the scrap value. They're sort of hard to unload now since the yards started cracking down. The same's true with copper wire, aluminum siding, etc. They're more than happy to provide the information to the police. Whether or not there's a legitimate argument behind it, victims have tried suing the yards that have accepted materials that were later determined to have been stolen. I'm not sure of the outcome of any of them but would tend to side with the yard. Still, who wants the expense of such a case when it is fairly easy to just take down the seller's license information? They've never asked for my license, but I also haven't ever taken in a "questionable" load. The police are also notifying the yards of recent thefts so they can be on the lookout and call them while the thief is still in possession of the goods.

[txwhitedove]

2. Children! Their children were in a truck waiting.... Oh hell no.

Probably meth related. That happened in Calif., but here's a link to article on Texas Cable News:

"Members of the Austin/Travis County Copper theft taskforce are seeing a disturbing trend in copper theft and its connection to a highly addictive drug.

Detective Sidney Parker with the Travis County Sheriff's department tells KVUE that of the 28 people arrested in 2007 for stealing copper, more than 70 percent of them did so to support a methamphetamine habit."

http://www.txcn.com/sharedcontent/dws/txcn/austin/stories/012108kvuecoppermeth-mm.4678d21e.html

[Taitertots]

3. Too late, they already had children n/t

[sammytko]

4. We've had several deaths like this in our s. texas county

The last one was trying to steal from a secluded sub-station. When parts of the county lost power and maintenance went to check, they found the fried body. And he wasn't alone, but the others left him there to die.

What is sad is that the city of San Antonio has tried to curb this kind of thing by requireing all scrap metal dealers to track sales of copper wiring, but they still buy it. They know not all is legit.

[struggle4progress]

5. Sad story