Manhole Shocks 8 Year Old

Stray voltage shocks aren't only for the cold winter months! An 8 year old was shocked by a manhole in Staten Island. Briana Santa Maria and a friend had been playing in a sprinkler yesterday afternoon when Briana ran across the street in her bare feet, getting a sting from the manhole cover. A elevator repairman neighbor checked the spot with his meter and saw there was a current of 100 watts. Another neighbor told NY1 that there have been problems with electricity in the area, plus Con Ed had done work on a light near where the girl was shocked.

Briana had burns on her feet and was taken to Staten Island University Hospital. Parents are probably going to make their kids where rubber galoshes from now on, even in the sweltering summer heat.

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By Jen Chung in News on May 30, 2006 8:16 AM

Comments [rss]

interlard

The journalist may have completely missed the watts vs. amps thing (it's the amps that kill you--so we'll never know how close the little girl came to death), but at least they wrote barbecue and not BBQ.

The first time I've seen it written correctly in years.

coil

it's highly unlikely that the manhole was drawing 100 amps of current. it's hard to know what the actual current was (if they did measure 100 watts), because the voltage difference could be anything.