File this under tragic desperation

[cali]

Father and daughter burned in alleged electrical theft
September 17, 2011 | 10:02 pm


A father and his teenage daughter were in critical condition after receiving severe burns during an alleged attempt to steal electricity from high-voltage power lines in Inglewood, a police official said Saturday.

L.A. County Fire officials and police responding to an explosion at a power transformer late Friday found the 52-year-old man and his 17-year-old daughter with extensive electric burns, Inglewood Police Lt. Neal Cochran said.

The man had used tools to tap into a live wire, resulting in a chain reaction and causing the transformer to explode, Cochran said. The father and daughter, whose names were not released, were taken to a nearby hospital pending an eventual transfer to a burn unit, he said.

Power lines connected to the transformer, near Hawthorne Boulevard and 101st Street, were temporarily shut off because of the explosion, according to Cochran. The incident occurred around 11:40 p.m. Friday.

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http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/09/father-daughter-burns.html

People do something like this because they are desperate.

[raccoon]

1. I believe they do it a lot in some Latin American countries. nt

[Hoosier Daddy]

2. A vision of the near future

For all non-zillionaires.

[dixiegrrrrl]

3. My grandpa did that during the Depression.

It was one of the "family" stories.
He would shinny up the pole and re-connect the power line when they had been cut off the electric for non-payment. More than once.
Now, it has to be said, G'pa and the uncles were jack of all trades and knew their way around electricity, made their own shingles and shakes out of local cedar, cut their own logs, etc.
People do not grow up around these skills anymore.