Vicksburg Daily News –
JACKSON, MS. — (WAPT) Neighborhood residents say their power went out early Monday when someone pulled the utility lines to steal copper.
Residents on McCluer Road and Duran Ville Street were awakened around 2 a.m. when they heard what sounded like an explosion.
“We heard a boom, and the power blinked, so we thought maybe a tree fell across a line or something. Right after that, another boom and the power went completely off,” said a resident who didn’t want to be identified. “We heard some commotion in the front yard and looked out the front window. Two or three guys in what looked like a crew-cab truck — I thought maybe they had hit the pole, but they were unhooking something from the back of the truck. Then they got into the truck and sped away.
The resident said when he came outside, he saw that the utility pole wasn’t just knocked down. It was snapped off at the top.
Jackson police came and blocked off the road while utility companies worked to repair the damage.
“In talking to all the people while they were working on this, they said (the men in the truck) were here strictly for the copper in the phone line,” the resident said. “What they did was they hooked a truck up to the phone cable, the trunkline, and they were trying to pull it down. When they got to my pole, they broke the pole. When they did, it caused an explosion when the fuses on that pole blew.”
When the pole came down, it also snatched his power box from the house.
“It killed the power, but it also killed their motivation to continue with this little endeavor,” he said.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS.
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