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Engineers report blames faulty electrical work in boys death
06:13 PM MST on Thursday, October 9, 2008
Faulty work done by a private company hired by the City of Tucson led to the death of an 8-year old boy at a baseball field in July.
The City released the investigation into the death of Deshun Glover Wednesday morning.
In it, the engineer says work done by Flouresco Lighting Company was faulty and led to the ground being charged on July 26 killing Glover.
George Hogge, PE, of Mesa, Arizona, was hired by the city to conduct the investigation.
In a 59-page report, Hogge says his investigation showed that work done in September, 2007, by Flouresco was not properly completed. His report says insulation on a splice crimp and a resulting ground fault in the pull box led to electricity running through the ground near the light towers.
Hogge also placed part of the fault on Tucson Electric Power. Hogge says the ground fault caused by the insulation failure was, "exacerbated by a high impedance neutral at the TEP transformer secondary bushings. This high impedance neutral limited the current flow and prevented the 200 amp circuit breaker from tripping and eliminating the hazard."
In a news release, the City says TEP has expressed disagreement with some of the facts and conclusions and has asked to speak with the City about those disagreements.
Glover Family
The game had just been called for approaching rain. People left the field but they noticed Glover was still standing in a puddle of water and was shaking.
People who touched him felt electrical current. His father got a running start and pushed his son to the ground. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital, but he died there.
The original call to the Fire Department reported a lightning strike and many early reports indicated that could have been the cause.
But people at the field said there was no lightning in the area at the time it happened.
Hogge did an extensive investigation at the site and into the history of the lighting systems at the ball park. Four fields are lit off a central electrical source. The field are just west of Hi Corbett field and are used by the Colorado Rockies during spring training.
We will post more on this story today as it develops and will have a full report tonight on Fox 11 News at Nine.
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