The victim in a death investigation from June 22 in the 1600 block of North 61st Terrace has been identified.
Charles C. Ruth, 54, was a resident of Kansas City, Kan., police said. He died from electrocution, according to police. The site was in a wooded area.
When police first arrived, an officer was shocked by the wire that was down, the spokesman said. The officer was treated at a hospital and released.
The incident remains under investigation by the Kansas City, Kan., Police Department.
The Board of Public Utilities released a statement Monday on the incident:
“The man who was reported missing to the Kansas City, Kansas police department since Friday, June 20th, apparently came into contact with a low-hanging power line which was likely the result of lightning striking a utility pole cross arm causing the power line to hang low over the tall grass,” said a BPU spokesman. “As the line was still suspended, and attached to the pole, it didn’t make contact with the ground in this secluded area, therefore no blown fuse or outage was not caused, nor was this line reported in to BPU. As a result, BPU was unaware of this downed energized line until the accident was reported. There is currently no technology available to inform electric utilities of downed lines such as this particular incident.
“BPU would like to express its sympathy to the family and friends of the victim and to the officer who was injured responding to this accident as a result of this tragic accident involving a power line.”