Pittsburgh releases independent report after dog electrocuted to death on bridge. Read it here
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- After a dog was electrocuted to death on a bridge in Pittsburgh, the city says it plans on following the recommendations from an independent investigator released on Monday.
The dog, named Nikki, was electrocuted when she walked across a metal plate on the sidewalk on Jan. 7. After her death, her owners demanded answers.
"I did not think that it was gonna happen as quickly as it did. I firmly believed I was going to have to pursue legal means to get the city motivated to fixing the problems that existed," Nikki's owner Bob Robinson-Dassel said on Monday after the report was released.
An inspector looked at the four electrical enclosures on Squirrel Hill's Murray Avenue Bridge and determined there was a low voltage current flow where the dog was electrocuted, the report from TopStep 1964 Consulting said. The inspector believes the ground conductor in that enclosure wasn't connected to any ground attachment.
"When the paw of the dog made contact with the lid of the first enclosure, one or more of his paws were in contact with the ground around the enclosure. This completed the path for the low voltage current to find ground," the inspector wrote.
The report gives a look at the electrical wiring tucked under the metal plate in question. The wires that run to the nearby street light appear burnt and deteriorated with the weather-proof conductors completely bare.
Robinson-Dassel has dealt with the grief for months and just adopted another rescue dog, Tucker.
"It was just such a sad day for me, and it's still sad, and I'll always miss Nikki, but, as you can see, Tucker is going a long way to filling that spot in my heart," he said.
In a statement, city solicitor Krysia Kubiak also acknowledged a previous 311 call about the bridge. Kubiak said an inspector walked the bridge and examined all the metal plates but couldn't find an electrical current. If he had, he would have called an electrician, but instead he figured the city hadn't given him the proper location. Since the 311 complaint was anonymous, no one could get more information from the caller, Kubiak said.
The independent report notes that because of the low level of voltage, an adult with proper clothing would have been less likely to detect the current.
"One of the reasons that I believe no person felt this low voltage current was because the voltage was so low and the soles of their shoes isolated them from being a path to ground. Any animal with no coverings on their paws could have felt this low voltage," the report says.
The report makes several recommendations, including a complete inspection of Pittsburgh's streetlight system and an inventory of all city-owned streetlight equipment. After that, implementing an inspection schedule every two years would help with public safety and "all around reliability."
Kubiak says the city intends to follow the recommendations and perform the needed inspections on the streetlighting system. And in the future, Kubiak says calls like the previous 311 call will go directly to an electrician who has the proper equipment and ability to make repairs.
"That's very encouraging that the city has taken some responsibility for making sure that the problem where Nikki was electrocuted on a public street on a public bridge is being looked after with a couple of safety procedures put into place," Robinson-Dassel said.
All the proper repairs have been made to the junction box on the Murray Avenue Bridge, Kubiak said.
"Nikki bit my hands to keep me away from her while she was being electrocuted, so it fits with maybe her 'doggy spirit' or whatever that she is now helping prevent other animals, or possibly children or adults, from suffering the same type of fate," Robinson-Dassel said.
