An Alabama electrical worker died helping to restore power in Detroit last Saturday when he touched a live wire, DTE Energy said.
Austin Chappell was scheduled to return home to Alabama this week to celebrate his second wedding anniversary with his wife, Sarah Chappell, WJBK reported.
She said he was a great husband and father.
“I just hope that other women who are married to linemen don’t have to go through this — and I know that there are,” Sara Chappell told WJBK. “There’s no words to describe the pain. He was my best friend. We both loved each other until the end of this world.”
Austin Chappell was electrocuted when he came in contact with live equipment working as a contractor for DTE Energy Detroit, the company said.
The lineman was “just a good man and a good person and even better father and husband,” his father, Jeff Chappell, said to AL.com.
Austin Chappell was a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who was hundreds of miles away from home “trying to help people get their power turned back on,” his father told AL.com
He said he wanted people to remember linemen like his son the next time there is a power outage.
“They’re doing a very dangerous job. They’re not doing it for the money. They’re doing it to help people,” he said.
Jeff Chappell told AL.com that the family had questions about how the accident happened.
“We as a family have questions also about (if) proper safety protocols were followed, was there proper equipment on-site, was somebody trained on-site to help him?” Jeff Chappell said.
WJBK contacted Stateline — the contracting company Austin worked for. They said on Monday that they are not releasing anything about his death at this point.
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