Faulty maintenance led to the death of an 8-year old boy at a Reid Park ball field this summer. That’s the conclusion of a forensic engineer hired by the city of Tucson to find out what killed Deshun Glover.

A storm was moving in late that July afternoon, and many people suspected that lightning had caused the death. But in a 59-page report, the engineer says it was the negligence of a local electric contractor months earlier that led to the death.

Friends and family describe Deshun Glover as a fun-loving kid who enjoyed baseball.  But it’s his love for baseball that contributed to his untimely death. Now we have a better idea of how he died.

“The report that we received is very detailed and technical in nature,” says Tucson Deputy City Manager Richard Miranda. In the report, the city blames the Tucson Electrical Contractor, Fluoresco.

“Fluoresco is our contract company that provides maintenance to the lighting system there at the Reid Park Annex,” says Miranda. The report cites Fluoresco for faulty repair work that caused insulation inside the circuits to fail, sending huge amounts of electricity into the ground.

“We have to understand that a young boy has died, and when I look at the report, it’s very apparent to me that if maintenance and repair were to be made on that pull box, that this whole situation could have been avoided,” says Miranda.

The report also said a circuit breaker owned by Tucson Electric Power should have stopped the electricity, but failed as well. TEP spokesman Steve Lynn responded, “The piece of equipment that is referred to as being contributory, which is housed within our box, which is locked up for safety reasons, is not our equipment.”

Lynn says that piece of equipment, called a neutral, belongs to the city of Tucson. “We wanted the report to be fully accurate,” says Lynn. “I think it was irresponsible on the part of the city.”

Officials with Fluoresco declined comment on the advice of their attorneys. Meantime, the Glover family has hired a personal injury attorney and are expected to file lawsuits against all of those involved.