By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-14 16:19:03 | Updated at 2024-11-22 09:22:20
1 week ago
A Utah woman left over 800 people without power for hours after she climbed a substation transformer and damaged equipment during a 'mental health episode'.
Witness Ryan Kent revealed that the unidentified trespasser had managed to stand on top of the transformer and was 'scream obscenities'.
He recalled hearing the troubled resident yell about 'how the world was no longer safe for her or future children', according to ABC4 News.
Kent also saw a smashed circuit box and a pipe near the scene as multiple police cars continued to pull up to the Rocky Mountain Power electric grid near Gladiola Street and Decade Drive.
As a result, deputies from The Salt Lake City Police Department were forced to cut power to more than 800 homes in the area to ensure she was not electrocuted during the incident.
A huge crowd of people had soon gathered to at the grid and remained worried about the woman's situation.
'We were kind of concerned for her. We're waiting around hoping that she's safe and she's okay, and she comes down,' he told the outlet.
Ultimately, officials began surrounding her with cherry pickers to bring her down but the distressed woman kicked at them and instead began to climb a nearby wire 'like a vine.'
A Utah woman left over 800 people without power for hours after she climbed a substation transformer and damaged equipment during a 'mental health episode.' Pictured: The Rocky Mountain Power electric grid near Gladiola Street and Decade Drive
But when she stepped onto the rim of a picker, an officer managed to shoot their stun gun towards her - followed by a 'yelp', Kent recalled.
The officer reportedly threatened her to get inside the picker with him or he would stun her again. Allegedly, she did not agree and suffered another shock.
'She literally collapsed from pain into the cherry picker and they went down slowly.
'She seemed okay. She was verbal, and she was in pain, she was crying, and then [an] ambulance came put her on a stretcher, and took her away,' Kent said.
Dave Eskelsen, a Rocky Mountain Power representative later confirmed that a person had gone into a substation and damaged a control panel at around 11am.
He said that at around 1pm, power had been restored for all of the affected locals.
A huge crowd of people had soon gathered to at the grid and remained worried about the woman's situation
Dave Eskelsen, a Rocky Mountain Power representative later confirmed that a person had gone into a substation and damaged a control panel at around 11am
Witnesses saw a smashed circuit box and a pipe near the scene as multiple police cars continued to pull up
DailyMail.com has reached out to The Salt Lake City Police Department and Rocky Mountain Power for more information.
This comes two months after a rich California coastal town was left without gas, electricity and water after officials asked residents to evacuate due land movements.
Rancho Palos Verdes, south of LA, has been dubbed America's richest retirement town, but many poorer residents have been left with nowhere to go after surging groundwater knocked out its utility network.
Gas was cut to 135 homes at the start of August before their power and water supplies were switched off on September 1.
The coastal community has been blighted by landslides since torrential rain hit the area in spring of last year.
Dozens of homes were destroyed by landslides in July last year and floods tore through the area during the storms that hit California in February causing 'considerable land movement' under the homes that survived.
