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Conductor
Voltage turns man atop Acela into conductor
BOSTON -- Authorities said a New Yorker anxious to get home yesterday (July 10) climbed on top of an Acela Express train berthed at South Station and stepped into 25,000 volts of electricity that scorched nearly 85 percent of his body, according to this report by Laurel J. Sweet published by the Boston Herald.
"He was significantly injured," Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said of Brian Hopkins, 24, who was in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital with third-degree burns.
Hopkins, of White Plains, N.Y., was found aflame on top of the trainset just after 4 a.m. by Boston firefighters after he had spent Saturday night visiting with a friend in the North End.
Investigators suspect Hopkins may have been intoxicated and came in contact with the overhead electrical wires that power the high-speed Acela.
Hopkins disappeared at 2:30 a.m., when he walked out of his friend's North End apartment.
"That was the last time the friend saw him," said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Transit Police.
Hopkins' friend, he said, later got in a cab to go look for him, but with no success. Police said Hopkins was carrying what appeared to be architectural drawings. A family member reached in New York declined to comment.
It was unclear how Hopkins reached South Station. There is no train service at 4 a.m. Pesaturo said police found "evidence" that Hopkins tried to get inside the train, which was parked on Track 7 with its doors shut. He declined to elaborate.
"He had indicated to his friend that he wanted to get back to New York this morning," Pesaturo said yesterday of Hopkins.
The Boston police bomb squad responded to the scene as a precaution.
To fully appreciate the magnitude of the shock Hopkins suffered, by comparison to the 25,000-volt Acela, MBTA Green Line trolleys run on 600 volts of electricity.
(The preceding report by Laurel J. Sweet was published by the Boston Herald on Tuesday, July 11, 2006.)
July 11, 2006
BOSTON -- Authorities said a New Yorker anxious to get home yesterday (July 10) climbed on top of an Acela Express train berthed at South Station and stepped into 25,000 volts of electricity that scorched nearly 85 percent of his body, according to this report by Laurel J. Sweet published by the Boston Herald.
"He was significantly injured," Amtrak spokeswoman Karina Romero said of Brian Hopkins, 24, who was in critical condition at Massachusetts General Hospital with third-degree burns.
Hopkins, of White Plains, N.Y., was found aflame on top of the trainset just after 4 a.m. by Boston firefighters after he had spent Saturday night visiting with a friend in the North End.
Investigators suspect Hopkins may have been intoxicated and came in contact with the overhead electrical wires that power the high-speed Acela.
Hopkins disappeared at 2:30 a.m., when he walked out of his friend's North End apartment.
"That was the last time the friend saw him," said Joe Pesaturo, spokesman for the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and Transit Police.
Hopkins' friend, he said, later got in a cab to go look for him, but with no success. Police said Hopkins was carrying what appeared to be architectural drawings. A family member reached in New York declined to comment.
It was unclear how Hopkins reached South Station. There is no train service at 4 a.m. Pesaturo said police found "evidence" that Hopkins tried to get inside the train, which was parked on Track 7 with its doors shut. He declined to elaborate.
"He had indicated to his friend that he wanted to get back to New York this morning," Pesaturo said yesterday of Hopkins.
The Boston police bomb squad responded to the scene as a precaution.
To fully appreciate the magnitude of the shock Hopkins suffered, by comparison to the 25,000-volt Acela, MBTA Green Line trolleys run on 600 volts of electricity.
(The preceding report by Laurel J. Sweet was published by the Boston Herald on Tuesday, July 11, 2006.)
July 11, 2006