LOCAL NEWS: A woman climbed on a high voltage transformer, causing outages in Salt Lake City where over 800 homes were affected.
A woman is currently undergoing treatment after damaging power equipment and climbing onto a substation transformer in Salt Lake City on Wednesday morning, an incident that police attribute to a mental health crisis.
The event occurred near Gladiola Street and Decade Drive, prompting authorities to cut power to over 800 homes to prevent the woman from being electrocuted.
The Salt Lake City Police Department reported that the woman was taken into custody and transported to a hospital.
Witness Ryan Kent was driving by when he noticed several police cars at the power substation and decided to stop to see what was happening.
He observed the woman on top of the transformer, “screaming obscenities” at the police as they attempted to persuade her to come down.
He also saw a damaged circuit box and a nearby pipe.
Soon, four or five additional police cars arrived.
Kent reported hearing the woman express her feelings of insecurity about the world and her future children, while negotiators tried to convince her to descend.
Over the next 20 to 30 minutes, a crowd gathered near the substation, concerned for her safety.
As authorities approached with cherry pickers to assist her, Kent noted that the woman began kicking at the equipment and climbed a wire like a “vine.”
When she stepped onto the rim of a cherry picker, an officer fired a less lethal weapon, which elicited a yelp from her. The officer then warned her to get back inside the cherry picker or face another shot.
According to Kent, she collapsed from pain into the cherry picker, where she was slowly brought down.
He described her as being verbal but in distress, and she was subsequently placed on a stretcher and taken away by ambulance.
Dave Eskelsen, a spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power, confirmed that someone entered a substation and began damaging a control panel shortly before 11 a.m.
Dispatchers quickly cut the power, allowing police to safely remove the individual.
Eskelsen noted that about 800 customers were without power from around 11 a.m. until shortly before 1 p.m., when it was restored.
He emphasized that substations are dangerous and entering one without proper training is “extremely risky.”
Employees at Rocky Mountain Power must undergo extensive preparation and exercise great caution when entering such facilities.
Salt Lake City police are working to ensure that the individual receives the necessary resources but did not disclose any identifying details about her.
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