Police in Elysian Fields, Texas are dealing with a relatively rare form of alleged tort and crime. Marcos Gonzalez is accused of causing the death of six-year-old Ceira Clark by electrifying his fence with 20 amps. Clark lives next door and fell on the fence on the day after Christmas.
Her mother, Brenda Slack, says that she tried to revive her but that the shock was too great on the child.
Police captain Marty Latham did not appear to object to an electric fence in a residential area, but did object to the voltage: “It wasn’t a typical electrical fence that would be powered down. It was running straight through a 110 outlet and there was a lot of amps running through it. People with common sense would put it maybe on a 5… but 20 amps, that’s enough to power half of a house. She didn’t have time to scream for help, close her eyes, nothing.”
It does not appear to be a crime in Texas to have electric fences in residential areas. It should be. In the meantime, the family should sue Gonzalez. The common law has long prohibited the use of devices that can cause serious bodily injury or death in the protection of property. These spring gun or man-trap cases are based on both the immorality of the act as well as the inherent danger to police, fire-fighters and citizens from these devices.
Such cases often involve people who put the voltage too high or fail to add a regulator that pulsates the voltage as in the death of an elderly woman in New York who died trying to free her pet, here.
In the most bizarre instance, a man was injured when on this video he was captured urinating on a fence that he did not realize was electric.
The police are exploring a criminal negligence charge for Gonzalez.
For the full story, click here.
Why does a person need an electric fence in a neighborhood? And what was the man’s purpose for having it set at 20 amps?
If the family sues the man, does his homeowners insurance cover this? No amount of money is going to make them as happy as their child did. Maybe they should also push for tougher laws on electric fences. What a tragic loss for that family.
Unbelievable that somebody could be that negligent. I’ve been around electrified fences, often used to keep everything from larger cattle to smaller goats inside the property boundaries (as well, I suppose, as to keep predators away from livestock) and these low powered fences can give you enough of a jolt that you’re not too inclined to grab the wire a second time, but they should never be powered with a lethal amount of juice. That somebody would set up an electrified fence with this much power running through it, and that there may be other such fences on other properties, is very disturbing.
As Sally mentioned, if there isn’t one already, there ought to be a law.
Sally:
You’re right to worry about the recovery. Typical homeowner coverage is only $100,000.00, and this won’t begin to compensate the victim’s family. I suggest a legislative remedy limiting such fences and the amount of power they can hold with a criminal sanction. If that fails, I suspect the parents may move to enjoin the homeowner under a theory of public nuisance or even strict liability since in does involve the harnessing of electricity which is an abnormally dangerous activity at this power level and a classic strict liability setting.
I agree completely Mespo, something to that effect should definitely be done!!
I believe that mespo hit the nail on the head. This should be a strict liability case. The fact that the law does not prohibit electric fences in residential neighborhoods does not eliminate the common law rule duty to refrain from creating a condition which places innocent persons at risk of suffering serious injury or death. Firing up an electric fence to 20 amps is per se negligence, which is just another way of saying that anyone with half a brain would not do it. The owner’s insurance company will likely offer to pay the policy limits without a lawsuit ever being filed, but a child is needlessly dead.
I believe there are laws dictating maximum amperage for electric fences. It probably varies from area to area and maybe its not dictated in all regions but I seem to recall my dad telling me when I was young that 5 AMPS was the max allotted amperage in a residential community. 5 AMPS is enough to turn a cow around.
waynebro:
I thought there was such a provision under BOCA, but I can’t seem to find it. It may be under the National Electrical Code.
I think you’re right. I know there was something somewhere that said how much amperage farmers where we lived could use for electrifying fences. It might even have been something the BLM came up with.
Coverage could be troublesome.
I doubt there was a permit, proper installation, or inspection. Properly grounded UL controllers emit a maximum charge
not exceeding 1/10 of a second.
mespo, I believe TX has fully completed its adoption of the International Residential Code which includes the NEC.
This is one more example why Texas is one place that I will never set foot in, if I can help it. If there are no codes restricting the amount of amperage or if the city did not inspect properly, the city officials should be held liable along with the property owner. This is an atrocious example of an idiot allowed to threaten the lives of children and pets throughout the neighborhood. I hate Texas.
Rafflaw, I think you miscontrue. Texas does have safety codes
- commercial, residential, and rural. I know it’s hard to believe, but the entire State is not totally backward!
I suspect the homeowner never applied for a permit, as required by local ordinance.
I suspect the homeowner installed the fence by himself, or had it done on the side and/or, likewise, never notified his insurance company upon its completion, much less the Town…
I live in a called Weston in West Virginia and my neighbor just put an electric fence right on the property line in a residential neighberhood where I live, because my dogs keep going in there yard. I baby sit kids who cannot read a sign saying do not touch electrical fence. I think they should be made to take it down.
Sorry in a town called Weston.
Kid shouldn’t have been out there by the damn fence. People now a days never watch their kids. He probably got sick of yelling at them to get out of his yard everyday (like I have to) and put up a fence. Let this be a warning to parents who are too busy watching t.v. to watch their kids.
At 110V, 20A sounds like the fence was hooked straight onto mains, rather than using an electric fence device. That means his fence was effectively an exposed (uninsulated) mains conductor, which is of course illegal anywhere.