Duke Energy technician electrocuted while crews fix power pole in northwest Charlotte

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Duke Energy technician is dead after being electrocuted while crews were fixing a power pole from a crash in northwest Charlotte early Wednesday morning.

It all started around 1:30 a.m. after a car crashed into a power pole, knocking down power lines on North Hoskins Road between Beatties Ford Road and Chesapeake Drive.

Duke Energy crews responded to the area to fix the pole and reattach power lines. Our crews were there as a line started sparking and eventually, caught fire.

The North Carolina Department of Labor confirmed the person who died was a technician for Duke Energy, but did not give any details about what happened.

Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) said they will be conduct an investigation to see if safety and health standards were violated, but that could last weeks.

OSHA will also interview other Duke Energy employees to figure out what happened.

Following the incident, Duke reported more than 550 outages in the area.

Neighbors told Channel 9′s Gina Esposito they were troubled by what happened. They’ve seen power poles down on the road before, but nothing quite like what happened Wednesday morning.

“This is a very, very sad situation,” neighbor Joshua Richardon said. “This person trying to get power back on and they lose their life. It’s just so unfortunate.”

A portion of Hoskins Road will be shut down while crews continue to work on the power pole and investigate the incident.

No other information has been released.

This is an ongoing investigation. Check back with wsoctv.com for more information.

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