Woman who was shocked on Pittsburgh sidewalk with her dog speaks out: "Like he was being tased"
A Pittsburgh area woman says she never expected the outpouring of support when she shared the details of her traumatic experience on social media.
Stray voltage from a nearby streetlight shocked her and her dog Denim, leaving him immobile.
"I want to raise awareness around this situation that apparently happens in Pittsburgh because it shouldn't," said Montana Mitchell.
For the first time, Mitchell is reliving what she can't stop replaying in her mind. A post-run cool-down walk on Smallman Street with her dog Denim ended in panic.
"I wear his leash around my waist, and so it was a small buzz I felt around my waist, so I thought the shock was coming from me at first, so I ripped out my AirPods and took off my Apple Watch."
But that didn't help, and Mitchell watched her beloved chocolate lab scream out, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth right next to a streetlight on the sidewalk near 11th and Smallman streets.
"He had been thrown to his side, his legs were pushed out, and it looked like he was being tased," said Mitchell. "When I realized he was being shocked, I didn't know where it was coming from, so I didn't know what to pull him away from. He's also 85 pounds."
Now she wonders if his size or her quick thinking saved him.
"I kind of had this split-second thought of, 'OK, I got to get in there.' So, I leaned over and started taking off his harness and his collars. That's when I really felt the jolts of the shock. It went up and down my arms, through my chest, and down my spine."
Miraculously, both Mitchell and her pup survived.
City officials confirmed Monday that something had previously struck the bottom of the streetlight, shifting the wires and causing a pinch in the wiring that energized the pole.
This happened almost two years to the day after Bob Robinson-Dassel's dog Nikki died from electrocution after walking over a metal plate beneath a streetlight on the Murray Avenue Bridge, also energized by faulty wiring.
At the time, the City of Pittsburgh and former Mayor Ed Gainey's administration hired a consulting company that recommended a city-wide check of its streetlights and electrical wiring.
Mayor Corey O'Connor's administration told KDKA-TV that never happened.
"Once I learned that this wasn't the first time this had happened, that's really what compelled me to speak out publicly," Mitchell said. "Otherwise, if it were a true freak accident, I would have kept it between family and friends."
Mitchell told KDKA-TV that she is meeting with attorneys and plans to make a decision by the end of the week.
The city told KDKA-TV that it will now continue to complete the suggested city-wide inventory of all of the city's streetlights to prevent this from happening again.