Thomas E. Kent, 64, retired boilermaker, rescued Clarence A. Sinn, 39, electronics machinist, from electric shock, Coppock, Iowa, January 21, 1968. While ascending a bank alongside a highway, Sinn slipped on the damp ground and fell forward onto the lowest of three high-tension wires attached to a broken utility pole. Receiving a shock from the wire, he flailed his arms and contacted the other two charged lines before falling inert on the bank with both legs at the knees atop the lowest wire. Kent, who witnessed the accident, broke off a dead branch three feet long and ran to Sinn as occasional sparking occurred at the wire under his legs. Squatting, Kent thrust the end of the branch under Sinn’s left leg. As he started to raise the leg, the branch snapped six inches from the end. Kent moved closer to the electric line, pushed the shortened branch under Sinn’s leg, and with effort succeeded in lifting it from the wire. Kent then moved to the other side of Sinn, squatted, and pushed the dead branch under the latter’s right leg. As before, Kent lifted the leg from the wire with effort. He dragged Sinn away from the wires and then revived him. Sinn recovered after being hospitalized for extensive burns.
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