A Safety Note from Your Cooperative Most people haven’t. Yet, in a land of 10,000 lakes, it is important we all learn about it. This story which happened in Alabama, tells why. “Carmen Elizabeth Johnson, 15, a Priceville High cheerleader who lived in Hartselle, died April 17, 2016, after jumping off the boat dock into electrically charged water at her family’s lake house on Smith Lake, according to the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency. The official cause of death was drowning by electrocution, state police said. Jimmy Johnson, her father, has been working to raise awareness about electric shock drownings since. “It’s really important to (share Carmen’s story), even though it is hard to do because I never had heard of electric shock drowning and I’ve been around the water since I was 5 years old,” he said. “It never even crossed my mind that it was possible.” That weekend in 2016 felt like any other at the Johnson family lake house on Smith Lake in Winston County, Alabama. Even though it was April, Carmen and her two friends were sunbathing on the dock. As Johnson worked on a pathway nearby, he heard a splash as his daughter dove from the top of the two-story dock into the lake. While the lake was only 68 degrees, Johnson wasn’t surprised Carmen was swimming. She was always a daredevil. Johnson realized the ladder wasn’t in the water so he lowered it. He had no idea that the metal ladder carried an electric charge from a faulty light switch. Then Carmen’s friend Reagan jumped in the water and began squealing about the cold water. But Reagan soon started screaming in panic. Johnson ran toward the girls and noticed Reagan looked terrified as Carmen was sinking under the water. He thought something was pulling Carmen down so he jumped in to save her. But he realized there was another problem. “I could feel the electrical current and it was so strong I couldn’t swim in it,” he said. As he blacked out, his son, Zach jumped in to help. Before losing consciousness, Johnson screamed, “Cut the power to the boat dock.” His wife Casey did, saving Johnson, Reagan and Zach. “If we didn’t have that switch and my wife didn’t know about it, three more lives would have been lost,” he said. His wife was able to turn off the power to the dock in time for Jimmy Johnson, his son and Carmen Johnson’s friend to survive the shock and exit the lake, he said. But the shock caused Carmen to go under. She was pulled from the water and pronounced dead an hour later, officials said.” Don’t let this happen to your family. Take five minutes to read the attached handouts and then make sure to have your dock and boat inspected. Electricity is safe . . . when we know how to respect it! Reference: Today Show website, May 19, 2017 and Times Daily website, May 29, 2017 Resource: Prepared by Minnesota Rural Electric Association for our cooperative; Author, Lidia Dilley Jacobson No. 06-2017