City officials search for answers after boy's electrocution

By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

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City officials investigate electrocution of Izaya Baiz-Hickey

City officials met Monday, December 1, 2008 to talk about why there was no lock on a transformer box at a Mishawaka apartment complex. Five-year-old Izaya Baiz-Hickey was electrocuted when he crawled into the box on Thanksgiving Day. (WSBT photo)

By Beth Boehne

Story Created: Dec 1, 2008 at 5:04 PM EST

Story Updated: Dec 6, 2008 at 1:56 PM EST

MISHAWAKA — City officials in Mishawaka say the utility box where a 5-year old boy was electrocuted Thursday night had been unlocked. Now the investigation is beginning to find out why.

The utility box that killed Izaya Baiz-Hickey last week carries more than 7,000 volts of electricity, so security is supposed to be tight. But city officials say not only was that box left unlocked; there didn’t appear to be a lock on it at all.

Family members of Izaya are still trying to understand why they lost him. While playing outside with friends after Thanksgiving dinner last week, authorities say he climbed into the utility box — buzzing with 7,200 volts of electricity — and was electrocuted immediately.

"Maybe it wouldn't hurt to come out and check and make sure there are locks on these things,” said Izaya’s grandmother Melodie Hale.

Mishawaka's utility department owns the utility box and hundreds of others. Monday morning, city officials met to talk about what happened while police continue their investigation.

“We expect that soon we'll have a final report but until we do it's somewhat speculative on our part to determine what really took place,” said Jim Schrader of Mishawaka Utilities.

But the head of Mishawaka Utilities says this much is clear.

“It is our procedure to have doors on these cabinets locked; can't explain why it wasn't,” Schrader said.

City officials say not only was that box unlocked Thursday night, there wasn't a lock on it, and they still don't know where it is.

Schrader says city utility workers are the only people with access to the boxes and know all too well the dangers of leaving them open.

Four days after the accident, authorities still aren't sure why the box was unlocked.

But they promise — for the family of Izaya Baiz-Hickey — answers will come soon.

“Our heart goes out to the family and we hope to have some more definitive answers here in the coming days,” Schrader said.

WSBT News spoke with police about their own investigation into how this happened. Right now because it's an open case, they had no comment.

As for the possibility an employee left it unlocked or a scrapper cut the lock off, at this point both police and the city utility department are saying anything is possible.

If you ever see an electrical box unlocked, call your local utility office immediately.

Grief counselors were on hand Monday at Walt Disney Elementary School in Mishawaka to help students cope with the death of their classmate.

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