Dog Electrocuted From Seattle Sidewalk Power Plate
Seattle Police and Seattle City Light shut down a block of Queen Anne Avenue North on Thanksgiving Day after a resident's dog died of electrocution.
Lisa McKibbin had never heard of the term "contact voltage" until her German shorthair pointer was electrocuted Thanksgiving when he stepped on a metal plate by a lamppost.
"He was totally healthy, at the height of his career. It's a bizarre death. It was noon on Thanksgiving, and me and my dog were doing our daily walk," she says about Sammy, the 6-year-old, 68-pound dog.
"Then he just started screeching and yelping in pain. I thought he had stepped on something sharp. Then he just started convulsing and collapsed.
The lamppost had been put in by a private developer in front of the Bricco wine bar in the 1500 block of Queen Anne Avenue North, says City Light spokeswoman Suzanne Hartman. Once approved, the post became city property, Hartman says.
"It wasn't sufficiently grounded," she says.
Hartman says the post is functioning again, and the utility is investigating.
Read the complete story By Erik Lacitis, staff reporter for Seattle Times
