Paramedics revive man shocked by power lines

HINGHAM, Mass. (WHDH) – Downed power lines sent a dangerous electric current through a man’s body in Hingham Wednesday and 7News talked to the paramedics who revived him.

Dave Jones described the frantic moments when he jumped into action and performed CPR on a painter at his neighbor’s house on Lafayette Ave.

The victim, in his 30s, was moving a metal ladder when the ladder came into contact with a power line sending 8,000 volts of electricity through his body. He stopped breathing.

“I started compression on the chest to try and see if I could just do something for the guy,” Jones said.

Hingham paramedics Tom Jacintho and Mike Woods took over with a cardiac monitor which shocked the victim back to life.

“With electrocution, the defibrillator usually makes the big difference there. So it was good that they had early CPR” Jacintho said.

Emergency responders were also dealing with another dangerous decision while trying to revive the victim.

“The wire was still live with the ladder resting against it but the patient was laying under the ladder and we had to move the patient away from the ladder to keep us from being electrocuted also,” said Woods.

The victim suffered severe burns on his hands where he was holding the ladder but is expected to be okay.

No one else was hurt.