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Berkley Man Found Electrocuted

Berkley Police are investigating the death of a 42-year-old man who appears to have been electrocuted in his own backyard  WWJ Newsradio 950 spoke with Berkley Public Safety Deputy Chief Bob North, who said police received a 9-1-1- call at about 10:30 Thursday morning, about a possible electricution.

Police arrived at the address on Dorthea Street off Woodward Ave. to find the man dead in the backyard.

"He had been in conact, somehow, with the primary electrical line -- the ones at the top of the pole," North said.

North said investiatiors were not yet sure how he came into contact with the line, but it it was lying across his body on the ground.

"He had no tools and there was no indication of climbing or anything like that. The wire could have been down, it could have fallen --we don't know that. We simply don't know. But the wire was in contact with him on the ground when we found him," North said.

North said such deaths may not be common, but can happen. North said a few years ago a man was electricuted in his basement, during high water, working on a sump pump.

"The safety notation here, though, is that if you see a wire down on the ground or waving in the air hanging from a pull -- don't go near it. Don't touch it. They are deadly," North said.

The man lived alone.  Police are working, Thursday, to notify his family.

Copyright 2010 by WWJ.  All Rights Reserved

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