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Kim Johnson Reporting18-years old, moving out on his own for the first time, killed in a freak accident because someone crossed two electrical wires. Bountiful Police want to know who is responsible for the faulty wiring.
Chris Johnson was about to live on his own. Over the weekend neighbors say they saw him and his friends pull up with a truck and begin moving their belongings into an apartment. Last night Johnson was hooking up a dryer in a small closet, when he lost his life.
Building inspectors temporarily condemned the apartment as they continued their investigation. But Grieving family was allowed inside retrieve their son's belongings.
Police say Johnson was wedged between the drier and a metal gas pipe when he plugged the cord into the outlet, an outlet that had a hot and a neutral wire switched.
Lt. Steve Gray, Bountiful Police Dept.: "One leg that was supposed to be hot was hot, and the neutral was hot also. So when you plug it in, basically the whole structure of the drier became electrified. And when you touch it, and you touch something else, you've completed the circuit, basically."
Johnson's roommates found him slumped over the drier and called for help. The police officer assigned to Bountiful high was one of the first on the scene. Officer Troy Killian says he was assisting paramedics when after two or three minutes it dawned on him who the victim was.
Troy Killian, Bountiful Police Dept.: “It wasn’t fun. I looked down and said, ‘Oh, that’s one of my students.’”
Officer Killian says Johnson was an office aide and he saw him frequently.
Troy Killian: "Chris was one of the kids you'd see in the hall, and there were a lot of girls by him. He was always talking to people. He was social; he had a smile on his face. He was a little mischievous, but I think most everybody would say they liked Chris."
Assistant principal Steve Hill agrees. “He was the type of kid that we would have seen around. He’d come back and visit us. Certainly our heart goes out to his family. His parents must be devastated because he was a really nice kid to have around.”
The home, with the attached apartments, is owned by a family trust. The member of the family who occupied the home died a few weeks ago. Neighbors say they remember him remodeling the apartment. They say he contracted out most of the work. So, who did the wiring? That's what police investigators will want to find out as soon as they can.
