2 contractors electrocuted while working on New York power lines identified

Wednesday, August 21, 2019
WARWICK, Orange County (WABC) -- Police have identified two contractors who died Monday after being electrocuted while working on power lines in Orange County.

Authorities say 51-year-old Derrick Paris, of West Caldwell, New Jersey, and 28-year-old Justin McLoughlin, of Trenton, Georgia, were working as private contractors for Orange and Rockland Utilities.
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They were working on the lines that cross Mount Peter in Warwick when they were electrocuted just before noon Monday.

Officials said they were tightening a guy wire at the base of a transmission pole.

"The guy wire became energized at some point for some reason, and that's in the investigation," company spokesman Mike Donovan said. "We don't know that reason, and I don't want to kid you to think we do."
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Federal and state investigators are looking into what specifically energized the wires, which typically are not electrified.

The utility company is also conducting its own investigation.



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