http://www.abqjournal.com/north/563311north_news05-17-07.htm
By Kate Willson
Journal Staff Writer
A graffiti tagger was severely burned after being shocked with 115,000 volts of electricity Wednesday while he was spray painting a tag— "our hero"— on a Public Service Co. of New Mexico electrical power transformer.
The 18-year-old, whose name was not available from authorities Wednesday night, apparently jumped a 15-foot-concrete wall topped with concertina wire that surrounded the PNM substation on Camino de Los Montoyas in northwest Santa Fe.
As he was spray-painting the tag on the transformer about 4:30 p.m., the electricity arced and shocked him, said Santa Fe Fire Chief Chris Rivera.
The jolt blew all the clothes off the young man, Rivera said.
An electrical arc occurs when a high-current charge is conducted from one surface to another.
The tagger was able to find his cell phone and call 911. When firefighters arrived, he was walking around, but had suffered burns to 60 to 80 percent of his body.
He was airlifted to an Albuquerque hospital for treatment, Rivera said. No information on his condition was available from University of New Mexico Hospital on Wednesday night.
The PNM substation where the tagger was hurt has been a frequent target of graffiti— but most often on the wall around the facility. The wall was blanketed with graffiti Wednesday.
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