ACWORTH, Ga. — Frantic moments caught on camera after a man is electrocuted while trimming trees.
An exclusive video obtained by 11Alive shows the moments after the incident happened. Neighbors call 911 while a tree-cutting crew tries to save one of their own.
"He hit an electrical line, and he got electrocuted! I think he just passed away up there. He is not responsive," the woman who lives across the street can be heard saying.
Acworth Police said the accident happened on the 4400 block of Academy Street just after 2 p.m. Monday. Neighbors who had asked the city why roads weren't blocked off, and power lines weren't shut down were blocked in their homes.
"I mean, you pull in your driveway, and you see him hanging from the tree, and it’s just like this is not good," Debbie Carter said.
Her home is right next to where the man lost his life. Hours earlier, she noticed Serious Tree Service trucks nearby and trees being cut down. She even took videos of it happening.
"All of us neighbors called public works wanting to see the permit," her brother Robert Carter said.
Robert lives a few houses down and says Acworth’s zoning administrator called back to say the company was allowed to be there and had a permit.
"They were doing everything safely; the only problem was the proximity to the powerlines," Robert said.
Neighbors said they also called Acworth Power to try and get it shut off, but it was too late. By the time police got there, they said the man was already dead.
"It definitely could’ve been prevented. I mean, if you turn the power off because you’re that close to those lines, it’s like, then it wouldn’t have been a problem," Debbie said.
While neighbors wonder if the man’s life could have been saved, flowers lay in the place where he will never be forgotten.
"I'm going to paint a white cross on it. We don’t want to forget him. We didn’t know him, but I don’t want to see anyone lose their life unnecessarily," Robert said.
While police investigated, OSHA was also on the property investigating to learn more about how the accident happened.