Princeton police officer receives shock from malfunctioning light pole on Palmer Square
A Princeton police officer was dispatched to the area of 73 Palmer Square Saturday afternoon after a caller reported that there was something sharp on the sidewalk.
The officer arrived on the scene and was investigating the reported hazard when he was shocked by an electrical current. He was transported to the Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center for evaluation and was released after being treated.
An investigation revealed there was a malfunctioning light pole that was the source of the
electrical current. PSE&G and Palmer Square Management responded to the scene and
shut the power off.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
This explains what happened to us. My husband and I were walking our dog there late Saturday morning when our dog suddenly started screaming in pain and threw herself on the ground. We both got injured trying to figure out what was wrong with her and my husband said he felt something sharp.
We want to thank the family and nearby store workers who came to help. And thank you to the responding police officers and EMS personnel.
Dogs have been killed by “stray voltages” when urinating on defective light poles.
I would like to know from a town or PSE&G official, how often they inspect municipal sidewalks for stray voltages ? Every so often, ones hears of fatalities due to worn-out insulation or decayed infrastructure in Manhattan or elsewhere.
Recognizing a business opportunity, Sarnoff (now SRI) developed a stray voltage detector and eventually spun off a dedicated unit.