KANSAS CITY, Kan. — A man died early Sunday morning after stepping on a live power line that had been blown to the ground in Saturday’s storm.
Lt. Kelli Bailiff with the Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office said 27-year-old Nicholas Moeder of Shawnee, Kan., went to Rosedale Park to play disc golf after a night out with friends.
Bailiff said that officers first responded to the emergency at 3:22 a.m.
In the dark, Moeder and a friend couldn’t see the extent of the storm’s damage at the park. Moeder ran straight into the downed line.
Rosedale’s disc golf course was the site of a disc golf tournament on Saturday, which had to be halted because of the downed line. The park is one of the sites for the 31st Kansas City Wide Open, a Professional Disc Golf Association tour event.
Moeder’s friend sustained minor injuries when he tried to pull Moeder from direct contact with the downed power line.
“Out of the corner of his eye he saw the other young man tangled up in the wire. He went over and tried to grab him but he immediately started getting shocked,” said Lt. Bailiff.
“You’re not supposed to touch somebody you believe is connected to a live wire,” she continued. “But when you see your close friend being tossed around by a wire, I think it is our heart and instinct as a human being, especially if it’s a close friend to go out and try and make every attempt,” said Bailiff.
When police arrived, Moeder was already dead.
“If you go into a public area that normally has lights and those lights are not on, you might assume there might be a problem, especially if you’re walking into a grassy area those wires can be embedded in the grass and can be harder to see,” Bailiff said.
Authorities say that neither Moeder nor the injured victim was registered to play in the tournament.
The Kansas City Board of Public Utilities had to cut power to the line due to the victim’s contact with it. Tournament play scheduled at the course for Sunday was cancelled according to a post on the event’s Facebook wall. The tournament was moved to Water Works Park.
