Death On Power Pole

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", July 1972, page 30

The following newspaper article, copied from The Kansas City Times, has been sent in by quite a few of our subscribers. As I have said before, we dislike printing this kind of story. But reading it may make people stop and think of what can happen to them. And is any piece of glass worth the price of death, injury or imprisonment? You may think "It's my life; I'll do what I want." But the rules just don't work that way. Everything you do affects someone, somehow, somewhere. The best and safest way to collect insulators is to do lots of research, hunt up old defunct lines, attend shows, buy, sell and trade, contact other collectors, and use your head!! Leave pole climbing to the men trained in this kind of work. Even they occasionally have 'on the job' accidents. Please, let's all have a happy hobby, not a tragic hobby!

ATTORNEY KILLED ON POWER POLE

A 25-year-old Raytown lawyer was killed Wednesday afternoon in a freak accident at 1108 S. Main when he climbed a power pole at that address and was electrocuted by a reported 4,160 volt charge from a power line.

Witnesses at the scene said they had heard a loud pop prior to the accident at approximately 3 p.m. and found Alan W. Tucker hanging from the pole. Tucker was unconscious at the time of discovery.

There was much confusion at the time because Tucker was reportedly not an employee of either the power or telephone company and his presence on the pole was undetermined. It was later reported he had a hobby of collecting power line insulators. 

M. A. Thompson, 922 S. Dodgion, an employee for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, was driving down Main Street at the time of the accident in his company truck and noticed several people gathered around the pole. He noticed Tucker hanging by a safety belt at the top and immediately gathered his own climbing equipment to offer assistance.

Thompson went up the pole and had to cut several wires in the tangle to free the accident victim. While atop the pole, Thompson also attempted to administer emergency first aid and heart massage to the lifeless victim before emergency crews from the Independence Fire Department arrived.

A fire snorkel truck was then used to lower Tucker to the ground, where emergency medical crews tended the victim.

Thompson said when he descended from the pole that the man, whose identity was unknown at the time, was not wearing regulation gloves or boots used by power company employees or telephone linesmen. Tucker's equipment consisted of a pair of rubber gloves, rubber boots and a safety belt.

Tucker was pronounced dead on arrival at the Independence Sanitarium and Hospital moments after he was freed from the pole.

Most of the residents and witnesses at the scene complimented Thompson on his efforts to free the entangled victim.

One witness said Thompson paid no regard to the danger of any hot wires and went right up the pole to administer aid. it was unknown at the time if the three main lines Thompson separated were live, but no one at the scene was taking any chances as the lines dangled from the pole.

Tucker's hobby of collecting power insulators had apparently led him to that certain pole. There were three such insulators at the top. One of the pieces was reportedly made of glass, which is of more value than porcelain insulators used on most of today's power poles.

E. C. Rhodes, Independence electric utility director, said this morning that he knows of no penalty against taking such insulating devices. He said that to take them directly from the pole is a dangerous situation, as experienced Wednesday.

The dead accident victim was a lawyer in his first year of practice after graduating from the University of  Missouri-Kansas City law school. He was to be married In July.



A lineman for the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company reaches for the body of Alan W. Tucker, 25, of 6506 Sterling, Raytown, who was electrocuted about 3 p. m. yesterday when he came in contact with a 4,160-volt power line in front of 1108 S. Main, Independence. Tucker's father, Francis W. Tucker said his son collected electric insulators. The telephone company lineman, Maurice A. Thompson, 922 S. Dodgion, Independence, had to cut wires to clear a path to lower the victim from the pole. Story on Page 4A.